Ford full of praise for Puritans after important victory

First half goals out of the top drawer from Mark Bell and Zac McEachran put the Puritans on their way to three more Division One South & West points at Spencer Stadium. Sam Elkins reduced the arrears after the restart, Bell and Zak Westlake then saw red before Ricky Johnson’s 22nd goal of the campaign wrapped it up late on.

Ford said: “The players were really up for the game, I didn’t have to say too much to them. We were the better team although it wasn’t our best performance by a long way.

“We tried to win it in the first ten minutes and we didn’t get the balance right. Then the game got stretched, we attacked, they attacked, it was like a basketball match.

“But we’re scored two great goals, that was the difference in the first half. They got a goal back and we lost Mark [Bell] but I’m not sure it was a red card.

“The referee let a lot go and then chucked in a red card. But North Leigh were always likely to go down to ten men because there was a lot of ill discipline and a some petty fouls.

“I’d seen North Leigh play in game less important than this one and they barely made a tackle, against us they tackled everything, they were really fired up.

“If they played like that every week they would still be in the top two but they can’t and we can. We show that intensity every week, in training and in matches.”