Bashley'S stylish 4-2 undoing of Corby Town underlined manager Bob Higgins's belief that youth is the way forward at the Recreation Ground.

Although Sittingbourne's 3-0 success at Dartford means the Foresters remain nailed to the foot of the Dr Martens Eastern Division, Higgins, a former youth development officer at The Dell, is 100 per cent convinced the club are moving in the right direction.

With teenage tormentor Stuart Cooper giving the Corby defence the early runaround, Bash raced to two up inside 17 minutes and, but for a couple of lapses of second-half concentration, they would have won by a more convincing scoreline. The pity of it was that there was only a sparse crowd of 132 there to witness it.

Thirty-one-year-old player-coach Fraser Quirke got the nod for the sponsors' man-of-the-match award, but there were any number of younger candidates snapping at his heels, giving watching scouts from AFC Bournemouth, Reading and Wigan some tasty food for thought.

Higgins, who still has strong links with the professional game, admitted: "I couldn't pick a man of the match. I was pleased with all of them. But if I'd been scouting today, Stuart Cooper would have caught my eye. He's got a left foot, a right foot and plenty of pace. At just 19, there's a lot more to come from him."

Cooper set up Matt Jones to side-foot home his first ever Bashley goal after just four minutes, and got the second himself with a firmly struck, low shot from Stuart Hussey's cross.

Corby did a poor impersonation of a side sitting third in the current form league, and the Northamptonshire side were caught again on 59 minutes when Jamie Hawthorn tugged down Anthony Tilley for Craig Davis to strike from the spot.

Ashley Warner's header gave Corby a flicker of hope, but Bash soon snuffed it out when Quirke punished keeper Des Elliott's ill-advised surge outside his area

The visitors had the last word with a gift late goal for Wayne Spencer, but it couldn't wipe the gloss off Bashley's day.

"I believe in the squad I've got and if we keep plugging away then sooner or later things will turn for us," said Higgins.

"The football we played and the spirit we showed was unbelievable considering where we are in the table. Even Eddie McGoldrick, the Corby manager, said we had better workrate and attitude."