Sholing eased a mammoth 12 points clear at the top of the Zamaretto South & West following a comprehensive 5-2 win at Bideford on Saturday.

Manager Dave Diaper was unable to travel with the unbeaten Boatmen due to family illness, defender Adam Camfield was away in New York and goalkeep er Lee Webber – outstand ing in the midweek win over AFC Totton – couldn’t get away from work in time.

But Sholing’s great strength is their team work and, with assistant manag er Mick Brown at the helm and Mike Hookway deputising for Webber, they romped to their 11th win from 13 league games.

Byron Mason opened the scoring on 25 minutes, fir ing into the bottom corner after Ryan Ashford’s pass had been chested down by skipper Kevin Gibbens. Three minutes before the break Dean Stow hit a 20- yarder which went in via a deflection off Matt Bye, but the former Thatcham midfielder is claiming it.

Three goals in ten second- half minutes from Barry Mason (69 mins), Kevin Gibbens (75 mins) and Lee Wort (78 mins) killed the contest.

Sholing’s only regret of the afternoon was that their normally water-tight defence was breached twice in the last ten minutes by Jamie Mudge and a Matt Hockley penalty awarded against Stow.

Coach Kev Harnett summed up: “The perform ance was solid again.

“We were under a bit of pressure for the first ten minutes or so, but then we came into our own.

“They played three at the back and we exposed them on numerous occasions with Marvin McLean’s pace down the right.

“We got stronger and stronger and we could have had seven or eight in the end. Wort and Gibbens both went close to scoring more.

“The only disappoint ment was conceding two at the end. For the first goal we got a bit sloppy and did n’t clear our lines, but the penalty was dubious.

“All in all, though, we’re happy with five goals scored and another three points to keep the run going.”