'Title race is far from over' despite Kimberley MW going six points clear

Two more wins for the Miners, including an 8-0 thrashing of Birstall United on Tuesday night, have been coupled with two straight defeats for previous league leaders Hinckley, meaning both sides have played the same number of games with Kimberley six points ahead of their rivals.

The two sides meet in Hinckley on April 2 but Furnell is continuing to keep his feet, and those of his players, firmly on the ground.

He said: “It’s been a really good week for us but we also know that with six games to go and 18 points up for grabs it’s far from over.

"We’ve had two successive clean sheets and there were seven different goalscorers in the win over Birstall so they’re the main positives for now, plus it will be good to get back on our own patch this weekend after two games on the road when we play West Bridgford.”

Sacha Markelic was the hero for Kimberley at Barrow Town on Saturday as his second-half hat-trick secured a 3-0 win.

Then, on Tuesday, Kimberley ran riot at Birstall with eight goals courtesy of Aaron Coyle (2), Tom Eccleshall, Nathan Banton, Luis Rose, Sam Brown, Blaise Duruaku and Ryan Whitehurst.

And Furnell and fellow boss Ant Ward were left more than happy with the week’s work.

Furnell said: “Barrow was the banana skin we feared most and they took the game to us from the start but without creating any clear cut chancesl

"The message at half-time was to remain patient and the chances would come and once we took the lead, Barrow had to come at us more and we were able to exploit the spaces.

"On Tuesday we faced a side who had beaten us convincingly at home earlier this season but once we got in front we settled down and had a real confidence and swagger to our play, reflected in the final scoreline.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s visit of West Bridgford, Furnell said: “West Bridgford have got a few new faces in recently, including Louis Nicholson who scored a hat-trick last weekend, and they come here on the back of a 4-2 win so will be confident.”