Boss Austin happy as Harborough Town ease to derby day sucess over Barwell

The win maintains Town's title push in the Pitching-In Southern League Premier Central as they stayed four points adrift of leaders Spalding United, and still with four games in hand.

Ben Stephens set the Bees on their way with a far post header after just six minutes, with Brady Hickey doubling their advantage with another close-range finish two minutes before half-time.

The scoring was then completed by Riley O'Sullivan seven minutes from time, the striker latching on to a loose ball at the edge of the six yard box and firing home.

And Austin told @HarbTownFC: "I am delighted, that was a tough fixture against a team that is fighting to stay in the league and it was a derby.

"It had loads of elements of being a tricky game, but the lads managed it superbly.

"The second half was about control without having the ball, and I was fine with that because I didn't think we needed to be gung-ho or aggressive and we could pick and choose our moments.

"I thought we were wasteful throughout the game as we created a lot, but that final clinical edge wasn't there, which has probably been a theme of our season, but we are in a great place."

The Bees suffered a couple of injury concerns, with Dempsey Arlott-John having to go off after 18 minutes and his replacement Luis Rose also picking up a knock.

Austin admitted the injury to Arlott-John 'doesn't look good', and that comes off the back of David Kamara having left the Bees after being recalled to Peterborough United.

The front man made his EFL debut as a second-half substitute in Posh's 1-1 draw at Northampton Town on Saturday.

The Bees are scheduled to play one of their four games in hand on Spalding on Tuesday night when they travel to in-form Banbury United.

The Puritans are on a seven-match unbeaten run that stretches back to the middle of December, and that sequence of results includes a 2-1 win over Spalding, but they were without a game on Saturday due to it being postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.

Austin is expecting a difficult evening, but is hoping the 'bitty schedule' of Banbury's season over the past couple of months will work in their favour.

"I think the form they have had has been good, but it has been stop-start," said Austin.

"It is hard to replicate that when you have had a bitty schedule, and hopefully we catch them on that day.

"But we are fully prepared to be playing against a really good opponent and a team that could cause us a lot of problems.

"If we are not at it then we could definitely drop points but let's go there and focus and see what we can do."