Ilkeston Town squad praised after making it nine wins in a row

Wayne Hallcro praised the togetherness of the Ilkeston squad in their current run of form.

The 5-1 success over Wisbech Town kept the Robins top of the NPL Midlands in what is continuing to be an exciting race for honours at the head of the league standings.

Zak Goodson scored twice, while Adam Chapman, Tommy Williams and Jared Bird all netted their first goals for the club in Saturday’s rout.

And the fact that goals are continuing to come from throughout the team was one of the positives assistant manager Wayne Hallcro was quick to highlight after the win.

He said: “It’s always good when everyone is chipping in with the goals. We’ve got some very good goalscorers amongst us and even with Tommy coming in from a full-back position to score shows good willingness to get in the box and be positive.

"We look like the side we want to be at the moment in terms of when we get into the final third we always look like we’re going to cause defenders problems.”

Hallcro added that many factors have contributed to such a good run being put together, with team spirit one of the main ones.

He said: "The togetherness has been so pleasing. There’s a great team spirit and they’re doing the right things – listening, concentrating – and as a group we’ve got to a point where everyone knows their jobs which is a massive thing in football.

"If you can get everyone to do their jobs and work hard, we’re always going to be in a strong position.”

Ilkeston now prepare to head to mid-table Sporting Khalsa on Saturday, a side who beat the Robins in just the second game of the season at the New Manor Ground in August.

And Hallcro is expecting another tough game.

He said: “Khalsa are the only side that have really troubled us this season and they did a job on us on the day.

"But we’re in a better place now and I like to think that certain things that happened on that day won’t happen again.”

A week after the Khalsa game, Ilkeston will host fellow promotion-hopefuls Stamford, with entry for all fans being free of charge – 1,800 fans having taken up a similar offer for the Chasetown game in September.