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Worksop Town boss Craig Parry was delighted with his side’s hard-fought 2-0 victory over Pontefract Collieries, as the Tigers stretched their lead to 19 points at the top of the NPL East Division following second-placed Stockton Town’s draw with Long Eaton United, writes Devon Cash.

Second-half goals from Josh Wilde and Vaughan Redford gave Parry his fourth straight victory over his former club and and Parry explained how his side had to dig deep for the victory.

“It was just a battle from start to finish,” he said. “It wasn’t pretty. It was always going to be a tight game and it is a really difficult place to come – probably the hardest in this league – so it is pleasing to get three points.

“We thought at half-time that the game would be defined by whoever made the first mistake because it was very cagey, but luckily it wasn’t us and then we controlled it from that point.

Tigers celebrate Josh Wilde's goal at Pontefract. Photo by Lewis Pickersgill

“Our instructions for the midfield were just to turn them and it was more like ping-pong with the ball being in the air a lot and we had to stay strong and resilient and together in battling and winning our second balls before putting it into their areas.

“When it is four against three in midfield, you have to shut the nearest man down quickly and it probably helped us in the sense that they were turning it rather than getting their foot on it because then they would have had an extra man and would have been able to overrun us.”

Worksop welcome play-off-chasing Cleethorpes Town to the Windsor Foodservice Stadium on Saturday, hoping to attract a bumper crowd to see the league leaders in action.

The Owls have just dropped out of the top five for the first time since September due to recent bad form under new manager Nathan Arnold and Parry said: “They are in a little bit of a difficult period, and they have had a change in manager who is just trying to find his feet.

“They still have some good players and I am sure that they will try to take the game to us and pick up three points as, with where we stand, teams playing against us coming up probably need the points more than us.

“That means they’ll be coming straight out of the blocks, and I am sure that a draw is not going to be good enough for them, so we have got to be clever and pick the areas that we play in.”

Worksop Town lead at the top now extended to 19 points