REDDITCH breathed new life into their West Midlands Division One promotion push with an emphatic 6-0 win over visitors Yardley on Saturday.
As well as securing an important three points it was a day to remember for defender Ade Young who, after ten years of service to the club, bagged his first goal in Redditch colours.
The Kingfishers have endured a stop-start 2016 and Saturday’s visit of the Birmingham side was only their third fixture of the year.
Barlaston forfeited a match against Redditch in early January and Oswestry did likewise a fortnight later before subsequently withdrawing from the league and having their playing record expunged.
Oswestry’s demise dented Redditch’s record as the Kingfishers had already defeated the Shropshire club twice so, six points worse off, a victory against lowly Yardley was crucial as Redditch aim to stay on track for a top two finish.
The hosts started well with an early goal from veteran Daniel Waite after six minutes and ten minutes later they doubled their lead with a fine strike by captain Pete Dawson.
Redditch continued to dominate possession and added a third goal before half time when Andy Billingham deflected home a short corner.
The second half was very similar to the first as Redditch dominated possession and the visitors did very little to threaten the Redditch defence as Ben Haresign and Tom Dunkley kept a tight rein on things.
It took three minutes for Redditch to score their fourth goal through another strike from Waite which took his season’s tally to eight.
In the 57th minute Redditch won a short corner which was injected by Will Moss to Billingham at the top of the D. He sent the ball across goal at pace to the far post where Young pounced to expertly deflect the ball into the net, sparking jubilant scenes on both the pitch and sidelines.
Top goalscorer Harry Capewell then completed the rout as he took his tally for the campaign to 17.
A key game now awaits the third placed Kingfishers on Saturday when they visit second placed West Bromwich, who are five points above Redditch having played two games more.
