CHICKERELL UNITED 5 OKEFORD UNITED 1

CHICKENS’ manager Steve Coward expressed his relief in overcoming rock-bottom Okeford and getting his side back to their title-chasing best at the Stalls.

A Steve Welch brace along with strikes for Warren White, Dan Campbell-Bell, and Elliott Stone were enough to ensure an emphatic win for the hosts, in response to losing their previous three league games.

“We played very well and we were back to how we were three or four weeks ago,” Coward told Echosport.

“We took 25 minutes to take our chance and I thought for a while it was going to be one of those days again, but once we got our first we settled down and if anything we let some frustration out from recent games.

“There was some fantastic football, they only had one up front and sometimes the teams down at the bottom who are scrapping are the hardest to break down, but we deserved the three points in the end.”

With leaders Westland Sports claiming a crucial three points away at title-rivals Sturminster Marshall, Coward’s charges still have a seven-point gap to make up on the league leaders in the run-in.

But even though the destination of the league crown is out of his side’s hands, Coward remained upbeat.

“We have just got to keep going and hope they slip up, there is nothing else we can do,” he added.

The Chickens’ next encounter comes away at Blandford United Reserves on Saturday.

Chickens: Boore, Miles, Coles, D Welch, Ferguson, Protheroe, Etherington, Campbell-Bell, Stone, S Welch, White.