Padiham turned in a superb second half display to triumph over Town, who otherwise had played well in the first.

Town responded well to going a goal behind, with AFC Fylde loanee nodding in the leveller from a Will Procter flick on.

However a late treble saw the home side get four on the board.

Loanee goalkeeper Oliver Bellizia was unavailable, being on the bench for his parent club Fleetwood Town in the Vertu Trophy against Leeds under 21s.

On an emergency loan, Town drafted in Aidan McKerney, who has worn the Longridge gloves before.

Connor High also came into the XI.

Town started brightly.

Both Luke Smith and Leighton Hewitt had early efforts come to nothing, with the former seeing a goalbound volley blocked and the latter shooting into Storks goalkeeper Bradley Sullivan's gloves.

High then tried his luck from 30 yards out, but it sailed over the bar.

The first of many bookings was brandished to Padiham's Bradley Knox, for a late tackle on Jack Anderton.

Then against the run of play, the hosts broke the deadlock.

Pa Jenkins blasted a cross into the roof of the net, leaving McKerney with little chance.

McKay then pulled off an incredible McGeady spin on Storks skipper Daniel Morton, leaving him for dead before seeing his cross deflect wide for a corner.

The Padiham captain atoned for it though, throwing in a perfectly timed slide tackle on Anderton as the attacker looked to race into a one-on-one with Sullivan.

Smith's resulting delivery crashed off the far crossbar.

The hosts then saw a big chance go begging, as Machell flicked it just wide of the Town goal.

At the time they'd regret not taking the chance, as Town rapidly restored parity.

Procter flicked a Ryan McLean cross onto his strike partner McKay's head, who nodded it into the near post, levelling the scoring.

McLean saw Town's first yellow card, for tactically stopping the Padiham counter attack.

Smith was the next to spot an opening from range, but his effort rolled well wide.

Ten minutes after a tame McKay volley being held by Sullivan, we went into half time.

As we got back underway, it was clear that the hosts had done some work at the break.

Machell was the looming threat to Town, rolling a 25 yard effort wide and seeing a goal disallowed for offside.

Jakub Hebda's header flew over the bar on the hour mark as Padiham began to really ramp up the pressure.

Town did look to respond, with Procter heading a McLean cross over the bar.

However it was Longridge who were being worked defensively.

Mitch Marshall slid in on Hebda as the forward had a massive close range opportunity.

The rebound came out to Machell whose first time effort was pushed past the post by McKerney.

Lee Ashcroft responded with an attacking change, replacing Procter with Matt Van Wyk.

Smith forced a half chance from 25 yards, shooting straight into the arms of Sullivan.

High was then Town's second booking, another 'tactical' foul.

McKerney then had to parry away an effort from Kieran Sherlock at his near post, but the Town resistance was finally broken just two minutes later.

Hebda fired a left footed effort across goal and into the bottom corner, putting his side back infront.

Two Padiham bookings for 'slowing the clock down' later, and Town made a triple change.

Smith, High and Anderton made way for Carson Greaves, Jordan Dainty and Josh Ashe who made his Longridge debut.

Not long later, Ethan Edmundson took the place of Ben Fletcher.

McKay then saw yellow too, for a late tackle.

The hosts then added two goals in the dying stages.

The first came from Knox, placing a close range finish into the bottom corner.

The second, Machell punished an error at the back and lobbing a stranded McKerney.

The full time whistle blew moments later.

A harsh scoreline perhaps, but it's easy to see why Padiham are top of the league.

We wish them nothing but the best for the rest of the season.

As for us, we'll go again this Saturday coming, when we host South Liverpool.

Let's get a good crowd and back the boys during the international break to get them out of this rotten run.

It's not like they're playing badly either.

A massive thank you to the brilliant following tonight, it's always massively appreciated.

We go again, keep the faith.

#UpTheRidge

The Goals:

Padiham: Jenkins (16'), Hebda (73'), Knox (88'), Machell (90')

Longridge: McKay (29')

The Teams:

Padiham: Sullivan, Seol, Morton, Sherlock, Jenkins, Knox (Smith 90+3') Sherlock, Price, Moore (Lawton 90+3'), Wane (Ayres 70'), Machell (Round 90+3), Hebda (Dunford 90')

Longridge: McKerney, Hewitt, Trafford, Marshall, McLean, Anderton (Dainty 79'), Fletcher, High (Greaves 79'), Smith (Ashe 79'), McKay, Procter (Van Wyk 66')