ANOTHER great performance saw Winsford United pick up a third consecutive victory, writes Eithan Boulter-Ashcroft.

A brace from Joe Duckworth helped his side to a 3-1 victory against Runcorn Town at Barton Stadium.

For Blues it was a third win in a week after starting the season with no wins in their opening three games.

Back-toback victories had been recorded against Burscough and Ashton Athletic.

In those recent wins, Joe Duckworth and Danny Boden were the main threat for Blues and they were a thorn in Runcorn’s side all afternoon.

Inside the opening five minutes Winsford thought they had taken the lead, but the linesman’s flag denied them.

Ten minutes later Boden missed a big opportunity, leaving fans scratching their head as to how the number 11 sent his shot over the bar.

Winsford continued their dominance with Damian Skolorzynski and Duckworth going close.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 34th minute. Matt Boland found Boden with an excellent pass and he sent his shot low past the goalkeeper.

Winsford's second goal followed just two minutes later.

Duckworth notched for the third consecutive match after having tight control of the ball inside the area before sliding it home.

The visitors grabbed themselves a lifeline in stoppage time at the end of the first half. Ellis Jones put Craig Cairns through on goal and he finished well to half the deficit.

Runcorn’s hopes of getting themselves level was quickly stopped following a brilliant goal for Winsford two minutes into the second half.

Great link-up play between Duckworth and Boden put the latter away down the left-hand side.

Boden beat one man before picking out Duckworth in the middle and he made no mistake from close range.

On the hour mark it looked almost certain that Runcorn would pull a goal back.

Kieran Holsgrove’s cross looked to have found Cairns at the back post for a tap in, but a fantastic last-ditch tackle from Matty Russell saw the ball loop up into the air and safely into the hands of Winsford goalkeeper Jacob Kirwin.

Winsford almost put the icing on the cake with a fourth but Runcorn keeper Adam Reid got down well to make a save.

Winsford will travel to Prestwich Heys on Saturday looking to continue their winning run in the North West Counties League Premier Division.