FOR 45 minutes this game was finely in the balance and you could argue that Woodlands looked the better team.

And had Asif Mahmood's early second half strike gone in and not rebounded off the crossbar then perhaps they could have gone on to win!

But as soon as Malt and Hops scored their goal it opened up the flood gates and they ended up convincing winners.

Two goals from Jason Jones and strikes from Alan Taylor, Andy Preston and Liam Gavin sealed the victory and pushed them up to second place.

Malt and Hops started the brighter of the two sides with Mark Johnson and Preston linking up well in the middle of the park. Taylor saw one right foot strike thunder against the upright before Jones saw a tame header easily saved by Jamie Slight.

Mahmood was Woodlands main threat and he did get the ball in the net but it was ruled out for offside. He then narrowly missed the target with a near post header.

Michael Ashton also caused a few problems and flashed a couple of shots just wide after coming in from the left.

But it was Malt and Hops who should have gone in at the break a goal up when a flowing move involving Johnson, Taylor and Preston ending up with Gavin side footing the ball wide. However, they had a let off just after the break when Mahmood hit the crossbar then saw a shot well saved by Lee Walker.

Malt and Hops rode the lucky in the early stages and then took the lead when Jones converted from close range after good work from Gavin.

It proved to be the turning point of the match for, as Woodlands heads began to drop, Malt and Hops began to play with more purpose. Johnson was denied by Slight when clean through before Jones fired wide with the goal gaping.

But it was a miss Malt and Hops were not going to rue as Jones turned provider and Taylor scored at the far post.

The impressive Preston then scored the goal of the game. He cut out a Woodlands counter attack and exchanged passes with Johnson before cooly rounding the keeper to score.

Malt and Hops grabbed two late goals with Jones firing home his second before Shaun Faulkner set up Gavin to score with the last kick of the game.

STATISTICS:

Malt and Hops 5 Woodlands 0 THE TEAMS MALT AND HOPS: Lee Walker, Wayne Baron, Liam Gavin, Damion Zamenides, John Washington, Nicky Parker, Shaun Faulkner, Andy Preston, Mark Johnson, Jason Jones, Alan Taylor. WOODLANDS: Jamie Slight, Gareth Graham, Paul Fox, Anthony O'Donnell, John Ormerod, Steve Taylor, Chris Hayes, Mick McKay, Asif Mahmood, Lee Oliver and Michael Ashton. Subs: Simon Littler and Anthony Hesmonhalgh LEAGUE TABLE

P W D L Pts

Lord Raglan ... 4 3 0 1 9

Malt and Hops ... 3 3 0 0 9

Miners Arms (Sun) ... 3 2 0 1 6

Woodlands ... 3 1 1 1 4

Brownhill Arms ... 3 1 1 1 4

Miners Arms (Sat) ... 2 0 0 2 0

Kings Arms ... 2 0 0 0 0