Buxton 2-0 Skelmersdale - match report

Goals from Leon Osborne and Craig King in the space of six, second-half minutes did the damage and ensured the Bucks picked up their first three point haul at the Silverlands since the opening day.

Martin McIntosh made just one change to the team which beat Prescot Cables 1-0 in the FA Cup seven days previous.

Neil Stevens made way for fit-again Derek Niven, who recovered from a bout of flu.

New signing Kieran Lugsden, whose return was only announced in the lead up to the match, had to make do with a starting place on the bench.

The first real chance of the match fell to the hosts after full-back Jamie Green showed excellent workrate down the left flank.

Green dispossessed a visiting attacker before scampering down the wing and then pulling the ball back for Luke Dean, whose sidefooted attempt came back off a post.

It was the first real test that either side could fashion but it was soon followed by a flurry of efforts by the Bucks.

Craig King, who has impressed in the early part of the season with an array of tricks and an eye for goal, unleashed a shot that had to be gathered at the second attempt by visiting goalkeeper Zac Hibbert.

Matt Thornhill, whose only goal this season came against Marine, will have felt he should have at least added one goal to that tally in this first-half.

The former Forest man first lashed wide after an expert crossfield ball by King, before then seeing a curling attempt creep wide of the post.

He then completed a hat-trick of misses before the interval when he scooped a clever knockdown over the bar from only a few yards out.

Skelmersdale then fired a rare warning shot when a speculative attempt rebounded off a post in the second-half but it wasn’t long before the Bucks hit back to open the scoring.

First a scramble in the visitors’ penalty area saw the ball bounce around between a cluster of players before Osborne took control and fired into the bottom-left.

Then chief tormentor King sealed the points when he cushioned a diagonal cross and slotted underneath the advancing Hibbert.

Buxton: Warrington, Black, Green, Istead, Broadhead, Palmer, Niven, Thornhill, Osborne, Dean, King.