Jay Hart fired low past the keeper to open the scoring, before doubling his tally for the afternoon with a carbon copy of his first goal on 24 minutes.

Richie Allen stepped up and put home a penalty which Town were awarded after an AFC Darwen player handled the ball in the area to make it 3-0 to Longridge ten minutes before half time.

AFC Darwen were able to pull one back to send the sides in 1-3 at the break through Lonsdale, who also scored AFC Darwen’s second and final goal of the game after half time to make it 2-3.

Eight minutes later, Brad Wicks curled Town’s 100th goal of the season into the net directly from a corner with the help of the wind, leaving the AFC Darwen keeper helpless.

On 75 minutes, Hart got his second hat-trick in as many games, with captain Richie Allen also getting a second, with the game ending 6-2 to Town.

It was a performance the Longridge manager was very pleased with:

“Coming here was never going to be easy, we arrived early and the pitch was heavy, there was a lot of rain. I was thinking ‘should we change our tactics’ but I’m a strong believer in the way we want to play. I trust this group of players and we were brilliant in the first half.

“I never thought that they would play like that on a heavy pitch. To go in at half time 3-1 up was fantastic, I told them to settle down and take their time in the second half, then before you know it it was 3-2 with out backs against the wall.

“They had a spell of twenty minutes were we couldn’t get in the game, then we changed tactically and within two or three minutes of doing that we managed to score two goals and we broke away from them.

“It was a great win, it is a hard place to come, they beat us at home so we got our own back today and I’m a happy manager again after that!”

With key players like Tom Ince, Alex Murphy and Isaac Sinclair missing, Ashey decided to switch to a 4-4-2 formation, a decision which paid off for the side:

“4-4-2 is a formation we hadn’t played all season, everyone should know 4-4-2 and the lads set their stalls up really well with Richard (Allen) and Paul (Turner) playing upfront as a two.

“The boy that is on fire at the moment is Jay Hart. He’s scored eight goals in two games.

“He’s a great lad, he’s come to the club, everyone loves him and I’m pleased for him more than anyone because he’s a character and we’re all willing him to do well and over the last two games he’s been outstanding.”

He manager also hailed Ryan McKenna after the game, who put in a brilliant performance against his former club:

“I pulled Ryan straight at the final whistle and grabbed him, he’s loyal to Darwen, he’s a Darwen lad and I told him he was brilliant today, and he has been an unsung hero if you will, but that meant a lot to him so we’ll dedicate that win to Ryan McKenna as a Darwen lad.”

Town’s fourth goal of the game marked Town’s 100th league goal this season, something which Ashey credits his side for:

“To score 100 goals at any level is fantastic, and to do it so early is a credit to the players. To have done it in 25 games is phenomenal and averaging four goals a game if my maths are right!

“The players take the credit for that because they can play football. They certainly can score goals, I think it’s only one game this season that we haven’t scored.

“To score 100 goals in 25 games, the players have a massive thank you from me and probably from the fans who pay their money to come and watch them play week in week out.”

The manager was also quick to praise the support that travelled to AFC Darwen in awful conditions and helped cheer the team on to get the win:

“We travel well, we’re brilliant at home, we had 171 on the game on Wednesday on a terribly cold night and they travelled in their tens or twenties today to support us against Darwen on a horrible day!

“I’m absolutely drenched from pillar to post, Keiran is the same, he turned round to me and said ‘thank God we’re not on the pitch today!’ I said no we should be on there, it would’ve been lovely for us to still be playing but they’re doing their business on the pitch and long may that continue.

“It sets up a mouth watering game on Wednesday against a team who I’ve said from minute one, if we can finish above them, we’ll do alright this season.”

Ashey now leads his side into a huge game at the MRG this Wednesday, with second placed AVRO the visitors for a 7.45pm kick-off.