Following last weekend's annihilation of AFC Wigan, we were making our way down the M6 today to take on our old foes Lymm AFC - and we knew that the performance last weekend would count for nothing unless we brought three more points back to Moss Park today. Sandy Lane is a bit of a fortress for today's hosts - having won most of their points here over the past two seasons - but knowing that Old Blackburnians came here and defeated them 0-4 gave us an added lift - if we needed one! The confidence is oozing out of our lads at the moment and as we arrived here for this one today. that was no different - with the lads walking the pitch and wondering how deep the puddle was in one of the penalty areas. It was the same for both teams though so as Wayne set up the cones (well away from the pitch mind) the state of this pitch could not be used as an excuse...

The lads did their best to stretch their muscles in the limited area that we had and when we went back into the changing rooms, it was time to name the starting 11. There were only two changes from that team that started at Ladybridge seven days ago - with Keegie coming in for Chris at the back and Robbo given a reprieve as Marcus was unavailable - and with Spencer and Kyron back from watching the boxing in London last weekend, they took their places on the bench...

We only took two points from these last season and the last time we were over here, Rav played arguably one of the best games he's had in a white and black shirt - but the one mistake he made cost us the goal that saw the score end at 1-1 - so we knew that today, we 'd need to be at it from the start. And that was Wayne's message from the off. We were the team that needed to be on the front-foot from the first whistle and make sure that we didn't give today's hosts a second on the ball - and if we passed the ball as well as we can, then chances would come. Charlie was urged to relax and get that curse of not scoring for a while off his back and with the defence reminded that communication is key, we were out there ready to go...

And within 5 minutes, we were in front. Starting on the front-foot, our forward three were pressing well - fully supported by the midfield trio pushing higher up - and that gave us a few throws on either side. When you've somebody like Ben in your squad, a throw is as good as a corner and he's already launched two in that gave their defenders nightmares trying to get rid off. Well - the third one was too good - and as it fell almost under their crossbar, it caused mayhem in their back-line - and that gave that man Keegie just enough time and space to get to the bouncing ball and slam it home from about 5 yards out. His first start for a while and he scores within 5 minutes - that's a message if ever there's one. 1-0 and we were off and running - again...

We were out of the traps quickly here and some of our one-touch football was sublime - with Liam, Alex and Robbo stitching things together and involving Ben and Ste at every opportunity and with the Lymm players just lumping it long, our back-four were coping with whatever they were trying to throw at us. And on 8 minutes, we thought we'd won a penalty when a great ball by Ben saw Lewis making the overlap and as he tried to dribble past their defender, he seemed to get it lost between his feet - but this flummoxed their full-back as well and our Lew came out with the ball making their defender have to nudge it out for a corner. Liam swung it in and as Keegie tried to climb to head it, it appeared he had been dragged down from behind. We could all see it - apart from the man that mattered and as he waved play on, the United fans were dismayed...

We then saw probably the funniest thing of the afternoon when the Lymm full-back tried to set their winger free on their left - and as our Nathan Durrans came across to shield the ball, he felt an arm in his back and went flying. The free-kick was awarded but when you consider the size of our No.16 and the fact that their player was about 5ft 6in and 9st wet-through, to see the distance he must have flung our Nath was remarkable. Boy did the away fans laugh - especially when we were awarded the free-kick...

Charlie then had a great chance to break his streak when a great ball from Liam saw him race through and with just the keeper to beat, the travelling faithful were about to go wild - but the ball literally hit a bobble as he went to hit it and the ball flew wide of the near post without troubling their keeper. When the luck is against you, it feels as though things like this happen - but you just have to roll up your sleeves and go again...

On went the game and at this point, the hosts hadn't troubled our Mitch - with the missile-launchers of Ben's throws really were troubling their defenders and the next one saw the ball bounce around before Charlie managed to perform acrobatics to get his right-boot to the ball - only to see it fly inches over the bar. These throws really had been an asset so far and the Lymm lads simply couldn't handle them...

The next one reached the head of our skipper and he directed the ball well - only to see that one fly just over as well - and at 1-0, we really did need to make this pressure count. But the next chance fell to them and in truth, they should have levelled the score. A long punt upfield saw Lewis try and bring the ball down rather than just get rid of it - and their attackers swarmed him to nick the ball and feed it into their forward. Clean through, he only had to pick his spot and slam it home - but he hadn't accounted for our Mitch who dived to his left and pulled off a fantastic save to divert it out for a corner. He'd had nothing to do so far - and that was a world-class save that - especially when you consider what happened next..

Because the corner came to nothing, Mitch fed the ball to Lew and within four passes - and some excellent running off the ball - we had a corner on our left. Liam went over to take it and as he fed it in, the ball went low and hard rather than under the bar as expected. Robbo shimmied to collect it - but then left it to go through his legs - and sprinting in, Ben got to the ball before his marker to slam it home leaving their keeper no chance to stopping it! A great goal - if we meant it - but the important thing was we'd doubled our lead and it all stemmed from that superb save by our No.1. 2-0...

Another long ball over the top seemed to catch their striker offside - but Brian's flag wasn't held aloft again - and it took yet another goalkeeping masterclass to stop their No. 15 from at least getting them on the scoresheet before the break. They were getting a little too much of the ball now and it appeared that they had made a slight change to their formation - but rather than stick to our guns and keep doing what had served us so well for those first 20 minutes or so, we adapted to meet them and it was showing. Mitch had to make yet another top quality save to keep our clean-sheet and as the first-half came to an end, the fear was that complacency would creep in a little bit like it did against AFC Wigan last weekend. We had to keep pushing them back rather than sitting and waiting to see what they could throw at us...

Half-time: Lymm AFC 0-2 BREIGHTMET UNITED

The lads came in and they knew that they'd done well so far - but the gaffer reminded them that the switch in style had allowed them to come more into the game. Get back to what we had been doing for those first 20 minutes or so - as that had been quality- and make sure that we didn't go back out there thinking that this was won already because it definitely wasn't. If the home side scored the next goal then this would be a completely different game - so we needed to get the ball down and start passing it quickly again. No changes were made and the boys were told to get back out there and make sure that this clean-sheet stayed intact. The points were half in the bag - go and claim then now..

The hosts must have had a rollocking at the break as they came flying out of the traps in the second half and for the first 10 minutes or so, they were the better team. We just seemed to be a little bit off it now and as they began to crowd the midfield, it was proving successful for them. Mitch made another fine save to deny their midfielder who hit a good strike towards the bottom corner and we were riding our luck a little bit now. Whenever we did get the ball forward we were still making them backtrack but for now, the home side were the better team...

We weathered the storm well and when we did relax and play the ball, we were back to turning them around and making them defend. And on 65 minutes it came. We had played the ball well and as it fell at Liam's feet about 35 yards from goal, he slipped a delightful ball inside the channel for Charlie to chase. Their keeper appeared to get to it first but the persistence of our No.7 saw him race towards their No.1,, win the tackle and as the ball popped up, Charlie had the simple task of stroking it into the empty net from about 10 yards out. At last! The Breightmet players raced to celebrate with the goal-scorer and that will have done his confidence the world of good moving into the next three massive matches. 3-0 and we were cruising now...

We made changes on 74 minutes - with Chris, Spence and Ky coming on to replace Robbo, Charlie and Keegie - and the three departing players were quite rightly applauded off by the travelling faithful. It was the clean-sheet that was important now and Chris slotted in as we knew he would to ensure that nothing got past us. Lewis had been playing superbly and was winning tackles and headers like a seasoned defender and with Liam, Alex and Ste now shoring up the middle, we were back on top now. The skipper did take another knock to his shoulder that did appear to give him discomfort after the game but in truth, the result was done now and it was a matter of whether we'd score again because we were not going to allow them to score today...

That was that. The referee played one minute of injury-time before blowing his whistle to signal the end of the game - and as the handshakes were done, the Lymm players were respectful and overheard to say that we were the best footbaling team they'd played so far this season. Nice words but again - they'll mean nothing if we don't get the three points at home to Rochdale St Clements Dev. next weekend...

The lads got back in the changing rooms and were rightly jubilant - that draw here last season was well and truly forgotten now - and these three points keep us up there in the mix. News filtered through of Old Blackburnians' surprising 2-2 draw at home to Old Rivs so these are a well-needed three points we've won here. And when the Man of the Match was announced, Lewis Cook had been a very close contender - however it was given to Mitch because without that save at 1-0 up, this could have been completely different - and that's before the other great stops he made today. Well deserved Mr Durrans - and we won't tell the world why Mr Palin had to buy you a pint today will we?

Happy days. Another place we didn't win last season conquered. Onto the next one we go and as above, it's the visit of our old rivals Rochdale St Clements Dev. to Moss Park. These always give us a really good game and if we want to ensure that we go into those two massive games before Christmas in the best possible form, then it's a must that another three points are claimed in seven days' time...

As always, top marks to those ardent followers that made the trip down to support us again today and once again, we outnumbered the homes fans probably 3 to 1 - which is no mean feat when we were 30 miles away from home. We love having you follow us all over and we hope that today's performance made your trip back up the M6 a pleasurable one...

See you next Saturday...

#OnceUnitedNeverDivided