Bourne Town beat Leicester St Andrews
Manager Michael Goode praised the response of his Bourne Town players as they recorded an eighth successive United Counties League win on Saturday.
The Wakes looked well on course to extend their unbeaten start to the Division One campaign to 16 games when James Hill-Seekings and Zak Munton scored in the first half of Saturday's match with St Andrews.
However, the Leicester visitors hit back after the break to level the match before the Wakes rallied with Will Bird heading home their winning goal.
Goode said: "We were pretty comfortable in the first half without being brilliant. We were the better side without being clinical.
"We gave the ball away quite a lot in the attacking half through endeavour more than carelessness as we were trying to find the right pass.
"St Andrews are a good side and they've had some good results recently against decent teams and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the top eight in a few weeks time so we knew the second half would be a real scrap.
"They got one back and their tails were up before they equalised but we had a great response and picked ourselves up.
"We got the third goal and then managed the game really well. We were in total control late on because it's always a bit edgy if there's a slip in those sorts of conditions but we put the ball into the corners, held it up and killed the time.
"We are learning to do that even better so it was a really good three points."
Bourne had taken the lead just before the half-hour mark when a header from midfield cleared the St Andrews defence for Hill-Seekings to race clear and score in a one-on-one.
The lead was doubled four minutes before the break as the ball squirmed past the visiting defence and Munton ran through to finish well.
However, the deficit was halved after the break when Dan Flack conceded a free-kick and, although home goalkeeper Dan Swan saved Shaun Barber's initial effort, the ball rebounded off the custodian and into the net.
The Wakes then suffered a further setback when they lost Robbie Ellis to injury and St Andrews equalised after a second successive corner was scrambled home by Harry Hawkins.
Flack was then moved into midfield with Herbie Panting coming on at full-back which allowed Josh Edmondson to be pushed further forward.
And Edmondson capped another impressive display by delivering the cross to the back post which Bird headed home for the winning goal with 18 minutes remaining.
Bourne were then able to manage the remainder of the contest with Tom Edwards going close to adding a fourth late on to maintain their seven-point lead at the top over second-placed Clipstone who they visit this weekend.
The Wakes had been awarded the division's team of the month accolade ahead of their kick-off following their impressive run of form.
Goode commented: "It's brilliant for the club and they have deserved it, especially after last season where they went on all those long unbeaten runs and never got a single award.
"It's great for the supporters and committee who work so hard to get these accolades but, for us, the last month has now gone and it's the start of the next one and all we're interested in is what's ahead of us."
