Skinner euphoric as Colliers rack up a 5-0 home win

Lee Mason fired the Colliers ahead in the first half then the goals flowed after the break with Ben Harmison hitting a brace (including one from the penalty spot), Dan Maguire and a Ben Sampson special.

The boss said that the club will enjoy the moment – until the players return to training this week: “We do this as a hobby and when you win any football match 5-0 - let alone against a team who are a great side and who will be there or thereabouts at the top end of the table come the end of the season - it would be daft for us not to go and enjoy it,” he said,

“When we win a match, it puts a smile on faces in the camp and rightly so - but the message is to enjoy the result now because we’ll be back on the training pitch and back to working hard at training this week. The victory over Bishop Auckland will be put to bed and we’ll be turning all of our attentions towards our away match against Northallerton on Saturday.

“If I’m honest, at 3pm all we wanted to do was to win a home game - and we’ve done that. I thought they (Bishop Auckland) probably started better than us and there’s a big moment after about seven minutes when our ‘keeper Karl Dryden makes a brilliant save. Whether that woke us up a little bit I don’t know but I just thought for the first 10-15 minutes they were probably slightly the better side and we grew into the game.

“Second half I thought we just looked as if we were at it a little bit more and it was nice for a change that we have punished mistakes which the opposition have made.

“All in all to win 5-0 against Bishop Auckland - who are having a fantastic season and who have got a fantastic squad - is very satisfying. Obviously the clean sheets are pleasing and again our goalkeeper Karl Dryden has made a good save at 5-0 from a free kick to preserve that clean sheet.

"We have only played 13 league games and it’s a great result today - but we won’t be getting carried away.

"It’s a home win in front of another magnificent crowd; we have scored five goals to boot; added three points onto our tally and plus five on the goal difference. Following our exit in the FA Cup against King’s Lynn, we drew one and lost one of our next two league games and a lot was said about it with people calling it a cup hangover. Probably too big of a point was made of it but it’s great that the players have taken it on board and gone to Thornaby and won then backed that up with two wins from two home games.

"If you win your home matches and pick up points on the road, then you are on track to have a pretty good season - and with only one game at Woodhorn Lane out of the next eight, a steady stream of away games is rapidly approaching.”

For Saturday’s trip to North Yorkshire, Skinner said: “We will need to check on one or two bumps and bruises but we’d like to think Paul Robinson will be available for selection although the game will probably come too early for Robbie Dale and Dean Briggs.”