Six of the best as Daisy Hill Twist knife against Skem

Goals from Sam Twist and Callum McHale put Daisy 2-0 up after 25 minutes, and Kaiden Barlow struck a third on the stroke of half time to put Daisy in the driving seat.

Twist grabbed his second of the afternoon just before the hour, and late strikes from substitutes Ryan Lockett and Krisel Prifti rounded off a good afternoon’s work.

Daisy captain Jake O’Brien admitted afterwards his side had to absorb some early pressure before taking control of the game.

“Pre-match I was a little bit nervous because it was a game we were expected to win, and it doesn’t always happen like that,” said O’Brien.

“We knew Skelmersdale would come out fighting, as they had lost 6-0 last week and we knew that any team that had lost by that score would come out and give it some beans.

“They had a good chance early on that just missed the target, and we were getting a little bit overrun because we weren’t tracking their runners very well.

“But once we got the first goal it settled us down a bit, and we were in control probably from about the 20th minute onwards.

“We have not beaten a team by that score for quite a while, and the quality of the goals was good, although I was a bit disappointed at half time going in at 3-0 up, as we did miss a few chances too.

“But before the game I’d have snatched someone’s hand off if they had offered us a win by 6-0, and it’s the first time we have won two games in a row all season, so that is something for us to build on”.

Although Skelmersdale United are rooted to the bottom of the league, they began well, with striker Renato De Oliveira Gomes causing problems for the Daisy defence in the early stages of the game.

In the fourth minute, he forced a save from Daisy keeper Morgan Newns, and a few minutes later hit a well-struck shot from the edge of the 18-yard box that flew narrowly over the bar.

But Daisy broke the deadlock on 19 minutes when good build-up play from Barlow led to him slipping the ball in behind two defenders for Twist to collect and steer the ball into the net at the near post.

The lively Gomes then had another chance when he smashed a shot into the side-netting from a good position, and it was to prove a turning point as Daisy added a second goal a minute later.

A long throw to the penalty area was misjudged by the Skelmersdale defence, and the ball ran through for McHale to slot into the far corner from 12 yards to double Daisy’s lead.

As Daisy took the initiative, Glenn Matthews headed just wide from an O’Brien corner, and McHale spurned a chance for his second of the game when he fired over from a Twist cross.

But Daisy finally got their third on the stroke of half time, when Skelmersdale keeper Ben Barnes could only push out Alex Dodd’s well-struck shot into the path of Barlow, who was left with an easy tap-in from close range.

Immediately after the restart, Ben Unsworth came close to adding a fourth from an O’Brien corner when he sent a glancing header just wide of the post, but on 57 minutes O’Brien provided the assist for Twist’s second goal of the afternoon, with the striker taking a good first touch before calmly placing the ball past Barnes.

Daisy made four substitutions to freshen up the attack, and straight away they made an impact when Prifti and Lockett were both denied by a fine double save from Barnes.

But with four minutes remaining, Lockett bagged his second goal in successive games, when he met a Luke Roscoe cross with a terrific diving header for Daisy’s fifth goal.

Lockett was also instrumental in creating the final goal of the afternoon as his mazy run was ended when he was tripped on the edge of the penalty area, and from the resulting free-kick, Prifti curled a delightful shot round the wall and into the corner of the net to round off a good afternoon for Daisy.

Daisy are back in action tomorrow night when they travel to face Euxton Villa in the first round of the Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy (7.45pm).