MATT Barnes may have one eye on planning for next season but his Little Lever side are still on course for an unbeaten run-in.

Lever were 6-3 winners in Saturday’s Premier Division derby at home to Blackrod Town, a result he says was thoroughly warranted by his dominant team, for whom Ryan Talbot and Jack Coop each scored two, Craig Bingham and Matty Woods also netting.

The victory was Lever’s third in a row and took their unbeaten run to five games, from which they have taken 13 points – and they are not finished there.

“I don’t think the 6-3 scoreline flattered us, if anything the three we conceded flattered our opponents,” he said. “Things are clicking nicely for us and we’re playing well. My aim a few weeks ago was to get to the end of the season without losing any more and we’re on track for that.

“Saturday was one of our best performances, against a very decent side. Our morale is good too, so it’s happy days for us.”

Lever have promoted from within – Talbot, Kyle Bennett and Ste Yates all shining after moving up from the reserves – and recruited from outside the club, bringing in goalkeeper Stuart Pomfret after regular stopper Danny Holland’s season was recently ended by a knee cartilage injury.

“We had no goalkeeper on Friday night,” revealed Barnes. “I thought I was going to have to go in goal, but fortunately Stuart came in at the last minute – and he did well. He hadn’t played 11-a-side for a while but him joining was a big plus.”

Like virtually every team, Little Lever are out of the running to overhaul leaders Failsworth Dynamos.

But with his fifth-placed side having last tasted defeat at the hands of Old Boltonians on January 21 Barnes is still gunning for a strong end to the league campaign, topped off with success in the First Division Cup.

“We’ve got an excellent draw in the cup, the first Premier Division side we can meet is Old Bolts in the semi-finals, if we both get that far,” he said. “It’s a good draw and the cup keeps the lads motivated and interested.”

Elsewhere there were defeats for Horwich St Mary’s Victoria, 3-2 at Old Blackburnians, and Bolton Wyresdale, who lost 2-0 at Castle Hill.

In the Manchester League Division One, Breightmet lost 1-0 at Govan Athletic but Bolton County were 2-1 winners at Pennington, with Liam Stewart scoring both goals.