NELSON surged to the top of the First North Western Trains League Second Division with this well-deserved win over East Lancashire rivals Bacup Borough.

On a sweltering afternoon at Victoria Park there was no hiding place for the faint-hearted as John Bailey and Brent Peters pitted their wits and their squads against each.

Nelson always looked likely to score with Mark Robinson up front and Borough had goalkeeper Adam Potts to thank for denying the Blues striker with a good save early on.

Potts could do nothing about the first goal however after 33 minutes when Jonathan Irvine broke clear on the left before crossing the ball for Robinson to chest home from close range.

Eight minutes later, a diagonal ball by Les Thompson found Irvine to the right of goal. He made a chance out of nothing with a great turn and curled a left foot shot from an impossible angle over Adam Potts and into the far corner.

A great through ball on 65 minutes by Ian Fleming gave Robinson the chance to shrug off the attentions of a posse of defenders before lobbing the advancing Potts for Nelson's third.

Although Bacup could not be faulted for sheer effort - notably Dave Betts at centre half and Nicky Taylor in the attack - the home side always had the edge and it was the Blues who came closest to adding to the score when Glen Little hit a 20 yard piledriver against the crossbar five minutes from full time.

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