THE WITTON COLUMN - The latest happenings at Wincham Park, with Paul Harper

SOUTH Shields are the runaway league leaders in the BetVictor Northern Premier League, but Albion despatched them in fine style last Saturday with a 3-1 victory.

As you’d expect from the team which began the day 10 points clear at the top of the table, Shields enjoyed a lot of possession and territory in the Witton half of the pitch, but they failed to make that count on the scoreboard.

Why? As I’ve mentioned in this column previously, manager Carl Macauley has his team superbly well drilled, organised and difficult to break down.

And that was fully on show against South Shields. Defensively, the team were really solid, restricting the team, who had scored at least two goals in their previous eight matches, to very few chances.

When Shields did get a rare sight of goal, goalkeeper Chris Renshaw was once again in fine form to keep them out, making two or three excellent saves towards the end of the game.

At the other end of the pitch, Witton were clinical.

The team can sometimes be accused of being profligate in front of goal at times, but last weekend, when opportunities came around, they were taken and we scored three excellent goals to complete a fantastic victory.

Talking of taking chances, the manager has brought in another forward to try and help us be more effective in front of goal on a more regular basis with the signing of Kyle Sambor from Cammell Laird 1907.

The 21-year-old has been in fine form of late, scoring seven goals in September for Lairds to win him the North West Counties Division One South Player of the Month, so hopefully he can bring that kind of goalscoring threat to the Albion side.

With the recent additions of MJ Monaghan, Connor Heath and Luke Wall, we certainly have some exciting attacking talent in the ranks and Kyle will only add to that further.

Welcome to Wincham Park, Kyle!

Witton are on the road at the weekend with a trip to Buxton.

Last season, this trip was a fantastic one as Albion ran out resounding 5-0 winners!

The same again would be lovely, but we’ll take three points however they come!

The Bucks had a crazy week last week.

In midweek, they thrashed Grantham Town 7-0 before losing to the same scoreline themselves at FC United of Manchester last Saturday!

And then next Tuesday, October 22, we have a derby game with 1874 Northwich in the Cheshire Senior Cup at Wincham Park.

Derby games are always something to look forward to, so there’s sure to be a good atmosphere for that game next week.