Recently relegated Trafford turned on the style on Saturday afternoon to put six unanswered goals past Harrogate Railway at Shawe View.
Danny Lafferty started the scoring after 13 minutes, converting from a corner, before Lee Rick side footed home from 18 yards and Jack Dorney scored from the spot to give Trafford a three goal lead at the interval.
Dorney then added his second of the afternoon on the hour mark with a terrific half-volleyed finish before Chris McDonagh headed in his eighth goal of the season and Ash Reece struck a beauty from 40 yards to seal an emphatic win.
Lee Ashforth made one change to his Harrogate Railway team from Monday’s win over Mossley, replacing Simon Parkes with Harry Brown.
Both sides looked to assert their dominance on the contest in the opening ten minutes with Jack Stockdill and Dorney sending long range shots over the bar.
Trafford then grabbed the first goal of the afternoon after 13 minutes when Robbie Bromley’s corner seemed to evade everyone except Danny Lafferty who fired the ball under the cross bar from close range.
The hosts looked galvanised by the early goal and continued to pressure Railway with Tom Goodwin doing well to keep out Lee Rick’s cross-shot and Dorney’s low strike moments later.
Tom Baker’s side then doubled their lead after 26 minutes when Lee Rick picked up the ball 18 yards from goal and coolly side-footed into the bottom right corner just out of Goodwin’s reach.
Trafford added to their lead six minutes later from the penalty spot after Brown had got the wrong side of Phil Dean and brought the attacker down allowing Dorney to step up and smash the ball in off the bar.
Although it took a fine headed clearance to deal with Lawrance Hunter’s in-swinging free kick, Railway couldn’t peg Trafford back and went into the break three-nil down.
Ashforth made two changes at the interval, replacing Fatlum Ibrahimi and Dan Thirkell with Vincent Dhesi and Greg Kidd, and the move looked to have worked as Railway applied pressure on the Trafford goal with a series of corners in the opening ten minutes of the restart.
Dorney soon regained his grip on proceedings in midfield, however, and added his second of the afternoon, and Trafford’s fourth, on the hour mark when the lively playmaker smashed a left footed half volley into the top right corner from just outside the area.
Four minutes later Chris McDonagh claimed his eighth goal of the season heading Rick’s lofted free kick into the bottom right corner with Goodwin unable to get enough contact to turn the ball round the post.
Dean then almost added to Trafford’s tally as the wide man travelled with the ball for 50 yards and rolled a left footed shot just wide of the bottom right corner.
Roy Fogarty had a brief sight of goal for Railway with 20 minutes to go when he spotted Luke Pilling off his line, but shot into the ‘keeper’s arms.
Trafford substitute Ash Reece then added a sixth, and a best goal of the day, when he picked the ball up 40 yards out in the 85th minute and sent an unstoppable strike past Goodwin into the top right corner.
Today’s defeat marks the start of three consecutive away games for Ashforth’s Railway, who travel to Burscough next Saturday looking for a strong response.
Trafford 6 Harrogate Railway 0
Harrogate Railway: Goodwin, Brown, Hunter, Low, Thirkell (Kidd 45), Pells, Sharrocks, Stockdill, Bromley (Fogarty 67), Clamp, Ibrahimi (Dhesi 45)
Subs not used: Barrett, Wood
Booked: Stockdill 78
Trafford: Pilling, Bromley, Caldecott, Palmer (Shaw 85), Granite (Reece 80), Lafferty, Rick, Ledson, McDonagh, Dorney, Dean (Sousa 71)
Subs not used: Lambert, Pritchard
Goals: Lafferty 13, Rick 26, Dorney 39, 60, McDonagh 64, Reece 85
Booked: Granite 30
Referee: M. Parry
Attendance: 176
Report by Hal Boxhall-Dockree
