Baker delighted with Blues’ performance
“IT’S a good time to be a Leek Town player,” proclaimed manager Neil Baker after watching his side secure a play-off place with a fine performance at the weekend.
The Blues’ 4-0 win over Mossley at Harrison Park secured them a place in the Northern Premier League West’s top five.
But it was the manner of the victory that particularly pleased Baker, who will now look to keep his side focused for the remaining three games of the season as they try and nail down home advantage in the play-offs.
“In two games, our form and confidence has come back,” said Baker.
“It’s a good time to be a Leek Town player. Confidence has returned at an important time of the season.”
Blues made an incredible start and were 2-0 up inside six minutes. In the first minute a cross came over and was flicked in for Ammar Dyer to score his second goal in two games.
Five minutes later, the ball fell to Dan Trickett-smith in the box and he squeezed a low shot past Brad Kelly to make it 2-0.
Trickett-smith then produced a trademark finish for his 19th goal of the season just before the break.
Leek dominated from then on and made it 4-0 in the 72nd minute. A corner took a couple of deflections before falling to Will Saxon and he made mistake from close range.
On the flying start, Baker, pictured above, said: “It was good, we followed on from last week, and it was rather one-sided, particularly after the start we had.
“They kicked-off and then we score inside a minute. It was a super start, followed up quickly with Dan’s goal.
“It’s 2-0 six minutes into the game, and you think ‘has it come too early?’ but there was hardly any trouble for us. “It could have been more.
“At half-time, it was 3-0, and I said I was quite happy for the score to stay the same. I told them I wanted them to be thorough in what they did, be professional, don’t let them back in the game, and if we get another, then fine.
“But I didn’t want us throwing people forward willy-nilly, I wanted us to play properly.”
Saxon broke his drought with the fourth, and Baker felt that the pace in his front line caused Mossley problems all afternoon.
“It was a good time for Will to score his first goal in a while, which he deserved,” said the Leek boss.
“It makes a difference when you’ve got pace in all three forward positions.
“You saw their forward, he’s a big lad who’s played at this level for a long time, scored a lot of goals, but he can’t run in behind us.
“We could defend high against them, but they defended high against our three which was a ridiculous tactic, when you’re playing against Saxon, Dyer and Trickett-smith. We didn’t have to play a lot of football to get in behind.
“I’m very satisfied because there were a lot of players playing at seven, seven-and-a-half, eight out of 10, and when you’ve got them at that level, you tend to win games.
“We weren’t sure we had the strength in depth, but then Ammar has come in and all of a sudden he’s an integral part of the team. He’ll play every week if he plays like that.”
Leek need seven points from their final three games to clinch a home tie in the play-off semi-final, and it could all come down to their final game at fourth-placed Marine.
And Baker does not want to see any let-up, with their next two games being a tricky trip to fellow play-off chasers Runcorn Linnets this weekend, followed by a derby against Kidsgrove Athletic on Easter Monday.
“There’s still a lot to play for, and anything can happen,” said Baker “We can’t control what other teams do. “It’s a big game. We’ll prepare as much as we can this week and look to go up there and win the game.”