HORWICH St Marys Victoria showed a ruthless streak in their 6-1 win at Howe Bridge Mills, heaping more misery on the Premier Division’s bottom side.

Horwich have had their own struggles in recent weeks, and only brought a five-game losing streak to an end with a 3-0 victory over Old Blackburnians in the previous match.

And with his side now eighth in the table, manager Danny Holmes hopes they can build on back-to-back wins.

“We set off like a house on fire against Howe Bridge and went 3-0 up inside about 12 minutes,” he said. “We tailed off a bit and they came into the game more but our fourth goal just before half time knocked them back a lot.

“It wasn’t a result that flattered us but Howe Bridge kept coming at us and really made a game of it, but unluckily for them just about every decent chance we had seemed to go in.

“We’ve been through a bad run ourselves but we look like we’re over it now with two good wins.”

Alex Abbott and Tyler Hill fired in Horwich’s two goals before Connor Dalton knocked in their third, sneaking in at the back post to turn home a free kick.

Hill converted a chance from Tom Walsh’s cross for his second goal and although Howe Bridge scored a consolation 15 minutes from time Matthew Hancock’s late brace – twice picking his spot in the corner of the goal – was icing on the cake for the visitors.

Horwich are hopeful captain Matt Makinson will return after his ankle injury this weekend, when they welcome champions Failsworth Dynamos to Scholes Bank.

Although Failsworth have been far from the dominant force they were en route to the title last term, Holmes is concentrating on his own team, rather than worrying about what problems the side directly below them in the table will pose. I don’t really know much about their situation,” he said. “I know they’ve been picking points up lately, but we’ll just get on with doing our job. We’ve got a tight squad and I’m more than happy with them.

“It’s really the acid test for us, a chance to see where we are, and if we can pick up points against the likes of Failsworth we should be on course for a top-half finish this season, that was always the aim and it would give us something to build on in the future.”

Failsworth will come into the game on the back of a 3-1 defeat to managerless Little Lever, who are third in the table, a point behind Rossendale, who lost 1-0 at Prestwich. That result means Premier Division leaders Old Boltonians extended their lead to seven points as Rob Taylor (two), Matt McLellan and Morgan Barlow fired them to a 4-1 victory over Bury GSOB.