HORNETS boosted their hopes of securing a play-off spot in National League Two with a resounding 38-6 win against Barrow Raiders at Spotland, on Sunday.

And with the top eight now qualifying for the knockout phase of the competition Hornets are in seventh place, five points ahead of Swinton Lions and Blackpool Panthers both of whom they play in the coming weeks.

So with five games to play Hornets boss Darren Shaw had plenty to celebrate from his team’s performance and said: "I thought our discipline with the ball was excellent especially in the first half. We put a lot of pressure on them, got them on the back foot.

"We used our back three quite a lot, there’s a lot of speed there and they caused some problems. We put our foot on their throat and choked them a little bit. The way we went about it today, our back three came in early and took a lot of pressure off the forwards, taking the ball forward, so hopefully we had a bit more gas.

"I think it showed. Defensively we were a lot stronger. They got a lot of offloads on us in the first half which was disappointing. We knew it was part of their game, but we addressed it became a lot tighter and only let them in for that one try in the second half.

"The talk throughout was very good. I am glad Danny Samuels came on in the second half. You could hear him talking from the stands. We say to the players every week talk solves things and talk creates things. We did that today. We solved things when we had to and some of our play with ball in hand was very good. I’m very happy we finished with the last try."

The return of Carl Sneyd in the centre helped Hornets cause as he gave a man of the match performance to score 26 points with a hat trick of tries and seven goals.

And Shaw paid tribute to his contribution and that of all his players adding: "Carl Sneyd was outstanding. He unfortunately hasn’t had a consecutive run of games with us. He’s copped one or two little knocks, had an infection in his face but hopefully now we can keep him and the other players injury free. We have had to make a lot of changes and lost a bit of continuity so it would be nice to stay injury free and see how the season goes.

"Leroy Rivett has a great hunger for the game. Everything about him is good. He has a great work ethic, prepares well and trains well and gets his reward on game day. But it’s a big pat on the back for all the guys. It was just generally a good team effort."

There’s still work to do, though, and Hornets fans know the only consistent thing about their team is the inconsistency. Shaw is also au fait with this aspect of his team’s performances and knows they need to put that right starting with tonight’s home match against Doncaster (kick-off 8pm).

"It’s that consistency we are lacking," he said. "We came here two weeks ago and beat Workington and played great. We go to Gateshead and put in an ordinary performance, then we come here against Barrow and we are on fire. Consistency is the key to everything and we need to turn up with the same attitude against Doncaster."

KEN Oldham is the new chief executive at Hornets. He replaces Peter Whitehead who retired two weeks ago. Mr Oldham has been associated with the club for 50 years, having helped his father Herbert who together with Bob Fletcher started the first Hornets in the 1950s. Since then he has taken on a variety of roles within the club including secretary.

Mr Oldham started his new job on Monday and is looking forward to the many challenges which lie ahead. He said: "It’s a new challenge. It will seem strange after a lifetime of working on the shop floor to be sat behind a desk. But I’m looking forward to getting stuck in.

"Peter Whitehead has been very supportive. He came in on Monday and Tuesday morning to show me the ropes and I’m very grateful to him."