WITH eight minutes left, Carl Macauley had seen enough.

He decided to take off Will Jones, who had played in attack by himself and was exhausted.

But it wasn’t a reprimand.

“I wanted him to hear our supporters’ applause,” explained the Witton Albion manager afterwards.

He probably didn’t expect that some of Buxton’s supporters seated in the main stand at Silverlands would join in as well.

Jones deserved for his display to be appreciated, even if it was begrudgingly so by opposition defenders who he had been a menace to.

By then Witton led 4-0 and had outclassed hosts that had lost only once previously in the Northern Premier League on a newly-laid artificial surface.

Their opening goal, scored by Jones who steered Matty Devine’s low cross past goalkeeper Theo Roberts midway through the opening period, had been a significant one.

It was the front man’s first in the Premier Division this season on his 14th appearance.

He did not hide his relief, and every teammate ran to congratulate him.

Albion did not look back.

Despite their obvious superiority in the final reckoning, there had been discomfort earlier in the afternoon.

Bradley Grayson drilled narrowly over as a Buxton side consisting of four attackers, including debutant James Dean, tried to take the initiative.

Their main threat was from set-pieces, and Witton repeatedly invited them to send a cross into their penalty area with a series of needless fouls.

However Jones’ well-taken goal changed everything; both for him, and for Albion.

Weight lifted from his shoulders, the forward’s half-volley from the edge of the box dipped a fraction late seconds after the visitors' breakthrough.

And Witton deservedly doubled their lead shortly before the break when Foley converted a penalty after Tom Dean, panicked by Tom Owens’ jinking past him, tripped the midfielder inside the area.

The Bucks rallied, and Scott Sephton diverted a corner against an upright before Diego De Girolamo was wasteful when shooting high from another free-kick in a dangerous position.

They didn’t carry that momentum into the second-half despite Liam Hardy firing straight at custodian Greg Hall when De Girolamo had burst forward shortly after the interval.

Instead the hosts were relieved when Danny McKenna curled a shot against the post.

It was a warning, and Foley made Buxton pay for not heeding it when he conjured a shooting opportunity for himself before caressing the ball out of Roberts’s reach for 3-0.

For a brief spell, Witton appeared rampant.

McKenna claimed a fabulous fourth, adjusting the trajectory of his next shot by millimetres so that it crept into the net via the same bit of woodwork he had struck 10 minutes earlier.

Roberts spared his own blushes after initially allowing Liam Goulding’s attempt to squirm from his grasp, but he could do nothing to prevent a fifth goal when defender Josh Meade provided a decisive ricochet to Foley’s shot in added time.

Jones, by then enjoying a breather and watching from the dugout, celebrated with the same gusto as Albion’s happy supporters.

Buxton | 4-3-1-2 | Theo Roberts (GK), Meade, Tom Dean, Young, Brown, Grayson (Oyibo 53), Sephton, Young (Oli Roberts 62), Diego De Girolamo, Hardy (Coppin 71), James Dean Subs not used Gee, Nico De Girolamo Booked Dean (foul), Grayson (dissent)

Witton | 4-5-1 | Hall (GK), Gardner, Humphreys, Wardle (Wilson 90), Devine, McKenna, Owens, Goulding, Cesaire (Booth 87), Foley, Jones (Noone 82) Subs not used Yates, Hopley Goals Jones 20, Foley 43 (penalty), 63 McKenna 71, Meade 90 (own goal)

Referee Michael Crusham (Wigan)

Attendance 427