LINNETS took this year’s Boxing Day bragging rights with a 3-1 win over Runcorn Town at Pavilions.

The Linnets came into this fixture in good form, having won their last three games by an aggregate 10-0 margin and moving to the top of the NWCL Premier Division table.

Town were also having a much better season than last, recovering well from an early slump to become a firm member of the league’s top six.

The Linnets came into this fixture missing three players from the spine of the team, newest recruit Tom Hardwick along with regulars River Humphreys and skipper Michael Ellison all absent. This would become four after half an hour when talisman striker Freddie Potter went off with a serious-looking back injury.

In came Kyle Armstrong to partner Mike White in the centre of defence, with Michael Simpson replacing Ellison in the heart of the midfield.

The game started quite scrappily with neither team taking a foothold. Matty Atherton was booked early on for a dive in the Town penalty area before Paul Shanley twice found himself clean through on Dean Porter’s goal, following long balls forward with a good tail wind, only to hit both efforts tamely into the safety of the goalkeeper’s arms.

The Linnets started to grow into the game having taken 20 minutes to adapt to the conditions, and when Kurt Sherlock sent a wicked in-swinging corner into the near post Freddie Potter got to the ball before Town’s keeper Danny Lever to head the Linnets into a 23rd-minute lead.

Linnets had a good chance to double the lead shortly after when Anthony Hickey found himself one on one with Lever only for James McShane to slide in from “nowhere” with a goal-saving tackle.

Moments later, Potter had to be withdrawn following an off the ball injury to his back, the scorer clearly in a great deal of pain and struggling to stand.

Mark Houghton came off the bench and, in a slight reshuffle, took up Sherlock’s midfield position, with Sherlock joining Hickey in the front two.

Town missed a great chance to equalise when a free header from four yards out went begging, however they made immediate amends on 37 minutes. An innocuous-looking throw in deep in their own half was collected by Mark Keddie, who sent a fantastic 50-yard ball over to Chris Lester.

Lester had advanced into space on the Linnets left side and with much still to do, Lester sent a looping cross shot high over Porter and into the back of the net.

The scores stayed level for only a minute though, Frannie Smith advancing 20 yards with the ball before laying it off to Sherlock, who found himself just outside the penalty area.

With everyone expecting more build-up play, Sherlock had other ideas, completely catching out Lever with a quick shot that was inch perfect in finding the very bottom corner to reinstate Linnets’ advantage.

The change in ends brought a complete change in conditions for the Linnets, who now found themselves with the very strong wind behind their backs.

This seemed to cause Town significant difficulty as they struggled to get balls in behind the Linnets back four for their pacey forwards to run on to, and Linnets took control.

Danny Lever spread himself well to save Hickey’s rasping drive with his right foot, then Hamid floated a ball in towards the far corner that looked like it was dropping inside the post but it somehow drifted just wide.

When Shanley broke away down the left and cut inside the Linnets box, a goal looked inevitable until Simpson threw in a perfectly-timed crunching tackle to clear the ball away from danger.

Sherlock controlled the ball from a Town goalkick before sending it back past the scrambling Lever for 3-1 with 15 minutes to play.

Linnets closed the game claiming all three points, in front of a 625 crowd, and notching their fifth derby game without defeat.

The win sees Linnets move into 2016 five points clear.

However, in a very competitive division, this is currently little more than a statistic due to the variance in the number of games played by sides in the top eight.

For the first time in several seasons, a ruck of sides are still in with a real chance of putting a charge together and taking the title come the end of April.

So local bragging rights stay with the Yellow and Green half of Runcorn until Easter at least.

These fixtures not only bring out the best in both sides but also the town itself, and a fantastic crowd of 625 proved that there is still great interest in this fixture amongst not only the supporters of both clubs but also many people of Runcorn who have an interest in football.

Runcorn Town: Danny Lever, Chris Lester, Sean Kelly, Mark Keddie, Chris Lawton, Adam McKillop, Paul Shanley, Jack Irlam, Nathan Martland, James McShane, Warren Bellew. Subs: Robert Ablewhite, Chris Dykes, Gareth Grant, Sam Haughton, Declan Gregson.

Runcorn Linnets: Dean Porter, Kieron Brislen, Matt Atherton, Kyle Armstrong, Michael White, Michael Simpson, Francis Smith, Kyle Hamid (captain), Freddie Potter (Mark Houghton), Antony Hickey, Kurt Sherlock. Subs not used: Adam Donohue, Kevin Leadbetter, Jamie Weeder, Taylor Kennerley.