Wigan Robin Park 0 Atherton Colls 6

HIGH-flying Atherton Collieries hit Wigan Robin Park for six without reply on their own ground on Saturday when they met in the North West Counties Football League Division One.

Colls are coasting at the top of the league and the large win now puts them two points clear of title rivals Cammell Laird with four games in hand.

Colls’ job got easier once Wigan were reduced to nine men, with goals from Gaz Carson, Wes Bancroft, two, Nathan Battersby and Kristian Holt, two, completing the rout.

Atherton started to work their way into a dominant spell early on with chances from Carson and Ben Hardcastle coming close.

Wigan Robin Park were doing well at keeping the visitors out until the home side were reduced to 10 men with 18 minutes played when goalkeeper Dale Gore was shown a red card and sent off for being the last man when bringing down Mark Adams in the area.

A penalty for the foul was awarded by referee Peter Shacklady and defender Carson stepped forward and whipped the ball into the bottom left-hand corner, sending the replacement goalkeeper the wrong way to claim his first goal for Collieries.

The situation worsened for Wigan when they had a another man sent off and were forced to play with nine men with still a lot of the first half to play.

With a two-man advantage the match became much easier for Colls and they doubled their lead through Bancroft who tapped home before half-time.

After a much needed break for nine-men Wigan, they were tough to break down at the start of the second half, with the replacement keeper also helping out with a couple of fine saves.

Colls finally increased their lead in the 74th when another player bagged his first goal for the club.

Battersby capped off a fine move, cutting into the Wigan box and firing past the goalkeeper.

Two minutes later, Colls were four goals to the good as Holt found himself in the box with both time and space before slotting home.

With four minutes left, Bancroft got his second when he ran clear of the Wigan defence and curled the ball around the goalkeeper.

One minute later, Holt also netted his second of the game after coming off the wing and attacking the Wigan box diagonally before finishing off the scoring.

COLLS entertain Rochdale Town on Saturday, kick off 3pm, and Atherton LR on Monday, from 7.45pm, in the league and Divisional Cup respectively.