Bolton Wanderers Women delivered a dominant performance on Sunday afternoon with a 5-0 victory over Haslingden Ladies and Girls in a convincing display.
Faye Knox (2), Eboni Bradshaw (2) and Neishai Gordon grabbed the goals for Wanderers on the day, but it was all about the collective as a superb team performance ensured three more points returned safely back to Bolton.
With just four games to go in the Division One North, and Wanderers stretching their unbeaten run to 18 games with victory this afternoon, the Whites edged one step closer to achieving their target of promotion in Haslingden.
On the back of no game last weekend, Myles Smith made two changes to the starting side that took to the field against Blackpool last time out, with Eva Williams and Jess Lightfoot coming into the eleven, replacing Maisy Mitchell and Madison Hardman.
From minute one the pattern had been set with Wanderers on the front foot, probing to find the opening goal with endless signs of attacking intent.
Knox, who found joy down the left-hand side in the early stages, managed to beat her marker and get to the byline. She delivered a teasing cross with her left foot, but it narrowly evaded Bradshaw at the far post. Chance missed, but tone set.
Knox was involved again a minute later, with the move started by Caitlin Clarke - who was outstanding in Wanderers' back three - with a ball through the lines to find Emme Shone, who in-turn picked out Knox. Beating her defender before curling an effort towards goal, Jorja Finegan made a decent save, however, to deny her.
The Whites continued to press forward, and found themselves in numerous attacking areas, but lacking that final touch to put themselves in front.
Two crosses from Lightfoot and Knox in quick succession caused issues for Finegan, who fumbled both under pressure with Charlotte Tyers and Gordon lurking to apply a finish but the Haslingden defence scrambled to clear.
The pressure was relentless and the deadlock was finally broken on the 20-minute mark.
Clarke delivered a perfectly weighted ball that split the Haslingden defence and put Knox behind the back-line inside the area. As the wing-back attempted to cross the ball, she was brought down by Phoebe Barker, earning a penalty. Knox picked herself up, and calmly converted from the spot.
With the goal to their name, Wanderers pushed for more and came close as Tyers whistled an effort past the far post after brilliant interplay between herself and Lightfoot in a tight area. Finding a yard on the edge of the area to get her strike away, Charlotte's effort had Finegan at full stretch but was just off-target.
It was all Wanderers at this stage, and Knox checked back onto her right to find space to deliver a ball to the far post to pick out Bradshaw, but Eboni couldn't apply the necessary touch to turn home and the home side survived.
Ligthfoot tested the reactions of Finegan twice in quick succession as Wanderers' leading scorer wanted more goals to her name. First, quick feet on the edge of the area allowed her to drive an effort towards the bottom corner that was well saved by Finegan - before the Haslingden keeper was asked a question again with a snapshot from Jess a minute later, but was once again up to the task.
Knox came agonisingly close to extending the Whites' lead after a jinking run beat three defenders, allowing her hit one that looked to have found the back of the net but Finegan produced an outstanding fingertip save to push the effort over the crossbar.
Wanderers continued to hunt for a second before the break - and on the stroke of half-time - Clarke came charging through bodies to meet an Eleanor Seals corner, but her looping header was gathered by Finegan once more to keep the score at just 1-0 at half-time.
Just seconds after the restart and the Whites had the second goal they craved. Knox, operating on the right-hand side in the second half, set herself to cross towards the far post. Although her ball in was slightly mis-cued, the cross had just enough bend and pace to find the far corner and extend the lead.
Despite being on the back-foot, the hosts continued to be well-drilled throughout and looked to reduce the deficit when Ellie Stuart capitalised on a loose clearance to shoot, but Annabelle White was safe behind it.
The third goal for the away side followed just through the hour mark, and it was the ever-impressive Bradshaw who got her name on the scoresheet.
Collecting a pass from Seals in a central area, Eboni set herself from 25 yards and found the far corner in magnificent style - leaving Finegan no chance despite her best efforts.
Wanderers wanted more, and a cross from Seals was almost converted by Knox for her hat-trick but she missed contact - with the ball coming back off the post as a result before being cleared.
The Whites brought on reinforcements in the second half, with Hannah Baldwin, Millie Smith, Lily Barnes, Chloe Ardin and Grace Grundy all slotting in seamlessly to keep the tempo and standards high as the game headed into the final 20 minutes.
Bradshaw had an opportunity to grab her second when nice work from Gordon freed her into space and bearing down on goal, but her dinked effort over Naomi Entwhistle rolled wide.
Fresh from her hat-trick on debut last time out, Grundy wasted no time in having an impact on the game. An excellent piece of skill beat her defender before sliding a ball between two defenders to expertly pick out Knox.
Faye set herself and unleashed a powerful strike towards goal, but Entwhistle did brilliantly to stand firm and deny her.
At the other end, White had to be alert to deny what looked a certain Haslingden goal. Bethany Macdonald did well to find room to get her curling effort away from the angle - that looked destined for the top corner - but Wanderers' shot-stopper produced a stunning save to keep her clean sheet intact.
As the game headed into stoppage time, and with two missed chances created nicely by Barnes in Wanderers' midfield for Bradshaw, the Whites eventually added a fourth when nice feet inside the area allowed Eboni to dig the ball out and finish nicely.
There was still time for more and a fifth arrived when Gordon sealed victory. Grundy's cross from the right wasn't cleared and Bradshaw had the vision to pick out the unmarked Neishai to finish first-time and crown a superb performance with a five-goal flourish.
With this win secured, Wanderers now head into the final four fixtures in the Division One North, with Morecambe next up on Sunday 30th March, kick-off 2pm.
Wanderers: White (GK), E. Williams, Holt ©, Clarke, Bradshaw, Seals, Shone, Knox, Gordon, Tyers, Lightfoot.
Subs: Baldwin, M. Smith, Ardin, Barnes, Grundy
Haslingden: Finegan (GK), Harrison, Whalley, Reeves, Atkinson, Macdonald, Romao, Millard, Rodriguez, Ashton, Barker
Subs: Entwistle, Edmondson, Stuart, Mason, McHardy
Report by Katherine Byrne. Pictures by Jake Horrocks.