Melton Town hit five at Burton Park Wanderers to put pressure on leaders Long Buckby ahead of top-of-the-table clash

Melton Town made the trip to Kettering to play an out of form Burton Park Wanderers, securing a 5-2 victory to keep the pressure on leaders Long Buckby.

Town started on the front foot with Harris going close after a good run through the Wanderers defence and Benjamin heading just wide from a Manship freekick.

The deadlock was broken after 16 minutes.

Lever received a ball out wide and as he checked Allen slipped, leaving Lever free to send in a low cross which Munton touched towards goal.

Smith blocked the shot, only for Munton to make no mistake with the rebound.

Smith made two important saves midway through the half first from Lever and then from the resulting corner and a Munton flick on.

The lead was doubled just before the half hour when Dunn played a ball behind the defence and Harris ran onto it and his low shot beat the keeper on the near post.

Melton continued to pile on the pressure with some good one-touch football, a breakaway finishing with Munton just missing the post and bar by inches.

The first real attack from the hosts saw Blackwell tripped inside the Melton box, Middleton sending Peet the wrong way from the resulting penalty to halve the arrears.

The second half started with Melton looking better in possession and they were making some good chances to increase their advantage.

Harris played a great ball into Dunn, only for his effort to go the wrong side of the post.

Munton found himself unmarked on the penalty spot after a good run from Beaver, but he lost his footing at the vital moment.

The pressure mounted from the visitors and eventually paid off in the 67th minute when a quick free kick found Harris out wide.

He popped it across the six yard line for Lever, whose composed finish found the far corner of the net.

Lever nearly scored his second minutes later when his run ended with a shot from an acute angle, Smith quick to block the effort at his near post.

Lever was involved again with 11 minutes to go, but this time his floated cross found Harris unmarked and he calmly headed into an open net.

Minutes later it was 5-1 when Harris again beat the offside trap and touched the ball onto Bucalossi.

He, in turn, sent a low cross in for Parsons to stick the ball into the net from six yards out.

The last action of the game saw some sloppy play at the back with Blackwell picking up a loose ball and playing in Middleton, who made no mistake for his second of the game.

This was not vintage Melton against a team that were far better than their bottom of the table position indicated.

However, it is still a good sign that they managed to get five goals whilst not in their best form.

Town now host leaders Long Buckby on Saturday, the hosts looking to close that four-point gap.

TOWN: Peet, Benjamin (Storey), Gilchrist, Fray, Beaver, Manship (Bucalossi), Astill, Lever, Harris, Munton (Parsons), Dunn.