IF timing really is everything, then Runcorn Linnets might just have it all.

Well, on this evidence anyway.

Each time Winsford United’s threat appeared to be growing, they scored.

A knack like that can have a deflating effect, and it certainly did on Blues.

They looked ragged by the time substitute Stuart Wellstead, a former favourite of their followers, gleefully rammed in a fifth goal deep into stoppage time.

By then the visitors were a man down after full-back Perry Bircumshaw had succumbed to an injury sustained in the build-up to Runcorn’s fourth, expertly-taken at the far post by Antony Hickey.

All of Winsford’s permitted replacements were already on the pitch.

Lee Duckworth’s side had arrived in town buoyed by a derby drubbing of Northwich Victoria, and after avoiding defeat in each of their three previous Premier Division matches.

However shorn of a trio of key players – attacking tandem Jordan Johnson and Michael Koral as well as defender Will Foster – they struggled to repeat last weekend's performance.

Blues showed glimpses of promise, but were deservedly beaten by ruthless opponents.

It says much that Runcorn’s best players were two they kept in reserve; Hickey was outstanding raiding from the left after replacing an ailing Zac Aley inside half an hour, while Wellstead brought a zest that had been missing when Mitchell Bryant led the line.

Those changes made a difference.

Callam Gardner’s free-kick had drifted wide for Winsford before he served Brandon Moores, who drilled straight at goalkeeper Terry Smith, midway through the first half.

Linnets did not call visiting custodian Michael Langley into action until half an hour had passed, and he was alert to smother Paul Shanley’s shot after racing from his line.

Shanley then turned provider for Hickey, who skipped around Blues’ number one only for a recovering Damian Skolorzynski to smuggle the ball clear.

Linnets did take the lead on 36 minutes, capitalising on a poor pass out of defence by Chris Middleton.

Shanley teed up Michael Simpson on the right, and the full-back’s driven cross was perfectly-weighted for Callum Lucy to steer it into an unguarded net after darting into a shooting space.

A second goal, in the moments before half-time, was a hammer blow for Blues.

Lucy’s finish, rising from an angle after shooting left-footed with power, was emphatic after he had been served by Hickey.

Winsford sent on Ryan Steele and Danny Hudson early in the second half, but neither made an impact.

The visitors ought to have done better though when Danny Kerr led a counter-attack, but he delayed too long before passing and the chance was gone.

Instead they congratulated Langley for a brilliant double-save, first denying Lucy a hat-trick before bravely blocking Wellstead’s follow-up.

The respite was brief though, and Wellstead jabbed in from inside the six-yard box a minute later after Shanley swept a cross his way.

Middleton cleared off the line after Wellstead danced around Winsford’s goalkeeper on 74 minutes, only for Hickey to make it 4-0 after Shanley again made progress on the right.

And it was from that side of the field, after substitute Mark Houghton dribbled into space vacated by Bircumshaw, that an assist for the fifth was converted by that man Wellstead.

Linnets | 4-2-3-1 | Smith (GK), Simpson, Morris, Hardwick, McKenna, Hamid, Nolan, Shanley (Houghton 78), Lucy, Aley (Hickey 24), Bryant (Wellstead 61) Subs not used Moore, O’Brien Goals Lucy 36, 45 Wellstead 66, 90 (+3), Hickey 77 Booked McKenna (dissent)

Winsford | 4-4-2 | Langley (GK), Skolorzynski, Middleton, Lee Duckworth, Bircumshaw, Gardner, Hopper (Riley 70), Kerr, Taylor (Steele 58), Moores (Hudson 58), Cotterell Sub not used Joe Duckworth

Attendance 396