THE 1874 COLUMN - By Matt Waters

SATURDAY’S superb comeback win over Skelmersdale United marked our 10th victory in a row in all competitions, eight of which have come in the North West Counties Premier League.

Not only that but we remain 14 games unbeaten since our away defeat to Longridge Town on November 6.

During this period, we have managed to take six points off promotion rivals Bootle which not many teams will be able to say they have done come the end of the season, which shows how relentless and unforgiving our football has been so far.

Over the course of our 10-game win streak we’ve scored 27 goals which is an absolutely incredible number, showing we are a real attacking force at this level.

Over previous years we haven’t necessarily seen such free-flowing football where we are able to completely dismantle some sides’ defences such as extremely tough opposition like Charnock Richard and Bootle, who currently sit second and third place respectively.

This shows the credit the management deserve for the way we are playing this season as many previous years we have relied on Scott McGowan as our main outlet.

This season, however, many other players are chipping in with goals such as Jake Parker, Callum Gardner, Lee Knight and Harry Cain showing the great strength and depth we have in our squad.

However, when you are scoring goals it’s just as important to not concede any at the other end and during our run so far, we have only conceded eight goals with Tony Aghayere keeping six clean sheets in the process.

At the start of the season we saw what looked like a slightly unusual back four being made up of a right winger, a central midfielder and two left backs, but it has now become the most solid defence in the league with each one of Mike Koral, Mark Jones, Lee Jackson and Matty Russell all playing brilliantly to help keep our defence the best in the league.

Not only in the last 10 games but across the whole season they have been superb in making sure we keep our record intact.

During this period, the most notable victories have come against Bootle, Charnock Richard and Ashton Athletic who are all high flyers in the league this season.

In the North West Counties there’s never an easy game and one of the sweetest victories of all was the Ashton game.

After Scott was sent off so early on into the game, we saw out nearly 70 minutes with 10 men against such a good side which shows how well drilled the lads are.

We’ve shown we can score goals such as putting eight past Barnoldswick Town and five past Charnock, but by keeping the number of clean sheets we have shows that every player is playing to the best of their ability.

1874 entertain Runcorn Town on Saturday at the Offside Trust Stadium.