Best performance of the season says boss Craig Parry as Worksop Town smash Long Eaton United 7-1

Liam Hughes netted a first-half hat-trick to set Worksop well on their way before Liam Hardy score his first goal in eight games. Jamie Walker pulled a goal back on the stroke of the break from a deflected free-kick, but Aleks Starcenko quickly quashed any hopes of a comeback with a goal a minute later.

The second half was executed professionally by the Tigers, who would get on the scoresheet twice more as Hardy completed his brace and on-loan Doncaster Rovers winger Tavonga Kuleya volleyed home in stoppage time.

And Parry was complimentary of his side’s display in a game where, ironically, they struggled for the first quarter.

“It was probably our best performance this year – probably the best,” he said.

“I thought we were slow to get started and for the first five-to-10 minutes we were a little bit slow out of the blocks but once we got the first goal of the game, we took control.

“When we seem to get the first goal and get our noses ahead, the opposition seems to go into their shell and whether that’s through fear or anything else, once we got that first one you could all of our players be lifted, and we stepped up our gears very quickly.

“We seemed to get through them and cut through them and be ruthless and that’s what we did today because every time we created a chance it ended up in the back of the net.”

Starcenko’s well-taken effort was Worksop’s 100th goal of the campaign in all competitions from a total of 34 matches.

With Parry’s philosophy being based around his attacking impetus, the Tigers boss was ecstatic to see Worksop hit such an impressive tally.

Parry added: “It is a great team effort and I know the big man (Liam Hughes) has a large stack of them, but we are all in it together and it is a good achievement for us to have.

“Personally, as a management team, it is good for us because we base ourselves on our attacking football in trying to outscore teams and sometimes it can frustrate some of the players in there because there are defenders in there that want clean sheets, but we love goals and want to entertain.

“To get 100 goals with 15 games to go, we must have done something right to tick that box.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Parry now expects another tough test as he prepares to travel to his former side Pontefract Collieries on Saturday afternoon.

Parry delivered back-to-back promotions and two play-off-chasing campaigns at this level in the Colls’ hotseat before leaving to take over at the Tigers.

This fixture has a history of being a feisty affair, which intensified last season after Ben Tomlinson’s 95th-minute winner at Beechnut Lane last season.

“It will be exactly the same,” he said.

“We know exactly what the game is going to be like, and I am quite pleased for them [after their win over Stockton Town on Saturday] because it has helped us out, but next week there are no friends, and it is a competitive game for us.

“I know first-hand and more than anyone that it is one of the most difficult places to go to.

“We have the right tools in that changing room to put a team out that will play a certain way in that game to try and come away with a positive result.”