​Three in three for Sleaford

It was a fine response to the Greens’ disappointing midweek FA Cup extra preliminary round exit at the hands of Shepshed Dynamo – with victory maintaining Sleaford’s 100 per cent early season record in the United Counties League Premier Division North.

The Greens made the dream start at a windy Longwater Stadium when Jacob Fenton’s cross was powered home by Joe Braithwaite (on his 200th Greens appearance) after just two minutes of action.

Sleaford continued to push at pace and doubled their advantage in the 19th minute when Fenton was expertly found by Finlay Armond and he cut inside his man before advancing and ultimately driving beyond Jake Alley in the Scholars goal.

The game was all but sown up just two minutes later when Fenton was set free by Liam Flitton’s long ball forward and coolly finished beyond Alley to put the Greens in total control, and despite the visitors grabbing a goal of their own before the break through Halim Bangura, the Greens produced a professional second half display to keep the Leicestershire side firmly at bay.

Assistant manager Louis Bland said: “It’s not a bad statement at all; in terms of the performance it wasn’t where we want to be but for the first 20 minutes. I think we took our foot off the gas a little bit but we dealt with their rotations really well – we’ve done alright today.

“We’re thrilled with the [league] results, definitely. In terms of performances, we’ve got to get there, we’ve got to get better.

"We’ve got a fantastic squad in there and we need to start producing a little bit better. But if we aren’t playing the best and still winning it’s a really good habit.”

Sleaford are on the road this weekend as they travel to play Belper United, although the match will be played at the home of Eastwood Community FC near Nottingham.

That will then be followed a week later by Sleaford’s entry into the FA Vase as they play host to Rainworth MW in the first qualifying round.