GOALS from Rich Anslow, Kalum Evitts and young defender Sam Mills helped Lye Town to a third straight Midlands League Premier win at Rocester on Saturday.

The win stretches their recent good run of results to just one defeat in six as they continue to establish themselves after promotion last season.

On Saturday Town face a tough home encounter with Boldmere St Michaels.

Chairman Brian Blakemore said: “We played them in a pre-season friendly and we are expecting it to be a tough game.

“But we are on a good run, and the encouraging thing is we have managed the run with a number of players missing. We were missing three recognised centre halves on Saturday so we had to shuffle things around and had James Spray out with a hamstring injury.

“We were on top in the first half but the first goal came at a really good time and Rocester have been conceding a lot of goals, and when the first went in their heads seemed to drop and we took advantage of it.”

l DUDLEY Town warmed up for this weekend’s local derby with Gornal Athletic by thrashing struggling Shifnal Town 5-1. Lee Smith scored twice and Rhys Morgan, Daryl Hand and Dominik Watson also got on the scoresheet.

Town, who are also set to face Willenhall Town tonight, lost 3-2 at home to West Midlands Premier title chasers Smethwick Rangers last midweek after two late goals from the visitors.

They had led 2-1 through Alex Perry and Morgan going into stoppage time having earlier trailed, Martin Lewis, David Meese and Gurjit Singh finally sealing victory for the away side.

Chairman Steve Austin said: “Saturday is the big local derby for us and it was good that we showed real character against Shifnal. We lost narrowly 2-1 having been in front the last time we met so hopefully we can put that right - we’ll be trying our hardest for sure.

“We were gutted to lose against Smethwick. We knew it was going to be a difficult game but it’s difficult to take when you think you have done enough. But I suppose they are third in the league for a reason.

“We could have won by a greater margin against Shifnal but one mustn’t be greedy. We can pick from a full strength squad against Gornal hopefully.”