Boro crush Padiham

Boro were far too strong for their already relegated rivals, and in truth the 6-1 scoreline flattered the Lancashire-based visitors.

Having collected four points from their previous two outings, Boro were clearly in confident mood. And this showed from the very beginning.

They were inspired in the early stages by Ryan Blott, who has clearly put his foot on the accelerator in the latter part of the season.

It took the striker just five minutes to break his duck for the game, and it came in acrobatic fashion.

Defender Danny Wilkinson smashed a shot into the ribs of Blott, but the frontman reacted quickly and hooked an overhead-kick into the corner of the net.

Blott wasn’t done there. As just a few minutes later the ball sat up for him on the edge of the box and he volleyed sweetly home through the flailing arms of keeper Sean Davies.

Some of Boro’s good work was then undone when a frustrating part of their game showed up once again.

The centre of the defence shut down and the pacy Daniel Wilkins charged through and slotted past a previously redundant Joe Cracknell.

This proved to be a minor blip for Boro, who soon reignited their attacking flare.

Tom Corner was unlucky not to convert when Alex Metcalfe’s cross struck him on the knee and then bounced away. Then Pete Davidson dragged a shot just wide of the post.

Not to be outdone by Blott, fellow striker Gary Bradshaw then opted to up the ante.

He took advantage of some excellent approach play by Davidson and tapped home at the near post to make it 3-1.

And then just seconds later, Bradshaw rose in the box to head home a Corner cross for his second of the afternoon.

Boro could easily have had more before the interval, but keeper Davies finally got his hands on the ball to deny Blott and the raiding Paul Robson.

After all the excitement of the first half, the second period trudged off the the slowest of starts.

Having been a spectator for much of the game, Cracknell showed he was still on his game when he made two solid saves from one of Padiham’s few threats Chappy Massamba.

Things soon came back to life on the hour when Padiham began to lose their collective rags.

Firstly, assistant-manager Steve Pickup was sent from the touch-line for a verbal battering of referee Paul Cook. And then Wilkins was dismissed for a naughty tackle on Gary Bradshaw.

After this wake-up call, Boro then completed the job with two more goals.

The first of which, from Paul Robson, has to be a contender for goal of the season.

Bradshaw advanced into the box and teased the Padiham defence by flicking the ball up twice and then dinking it into Robson’s path. The full-back showed the composure of a clinical finisher when he lofted it neatly into the far corner, leaving Davies bemused.

Then Metcalfe was rewarded for his endeavor when he cut in from the left and fired at goal. Davies completed an afternoon to forget by pushing the shot under his body and into the bottom corner.

That goal completed the scoring and a fine finish to the home campaign that will leave the supporters licking their lips in anticipation of the 2015-16 campaign.