NIALL MCGUINNESS saluted his Flint Town United players after they claimed the derby day spoils at Buckley Town.

A rampant start from the Silkmen saw them race into a 3-0 lead inside 33 minutes as Andy Brown and Alex Titchiner added to a penalty from Richie Foulkes.

McGuinness’ men then kept their Flintshire rivals at bay as they secured an important victory - their third in eight days.

“It was a good win and we thoroughly deserved it,” said McGuinness. “We dominated, especially in the first-half, during which we pretty much made sure the game was won.

“It was then about managing the game in the second-half and we were able to.

“Credit to Buckley though, they always posed a threat going forward and they didn’t stop testing us.”

McGuinness was delighted with another three goals, but after the 5-3 midweek win against Conwy, the clean sheet pleased him the most.

“I’m made up with the clean sheet,” he continued. “We spoke after the Conwy game, conceding goals like we did is something I’m not used to.

“We improved and managed to get a clean sheet, which was really pleasing, and we also scored three goals at the other end.

“We could have scored two or three more. We hit the bar and the post, and I’m always asking for more.”

While McGuinness was left to reflect on derby day delight, opposite number Dan Moore was ruing his side’s start to the game.

“We gave ourselves a mountain to climb, we’ve conceded three of the softest goals you’ll see at this level and it is a concern for me,” said Buckley boss Moore.

“In general open play we were actually okay, despite the scoreline, we moved the ball pretty well and created some good opportunities in wide areas, but we also lacked quality with the crucial end product.

“We have plenty of work to do going forward, we’re not afraid of it, or the challenges ahead, we will benefit from our experiences of last season and I know that the players we have are capable of so much more than what we’ve seen so far this season.”

Flint are now level on nine points with leaders Prestatyn, who were beaten 2-1 at Rhyl.

All three goals came in the first-half as James Murphy and Steve Thomas found the net for Rhyl with Rob Hughes continuing his fine scoring form for Prestatyn.

Colwyn Bay are up and running after a penalty from Tom McCready and an effort from Julian Williams handed them a 2-0 home success over Llandudno.

Bangor City made it back-to-back victories as they came away from Porthmadog with a 1-0 win, courtesy of Emmanuel Agyemang’s first-half goal.