Carl Stewart made a surprise return for injury and suspension-hit Selby Town who got their Toolstation NCEL Division One promotion bid back on the road with a 4-0 win at Armthorpe Welfare.
Charlie Clamp, Liam Flanagan, Jon-Paul Vass and Casey Stewart ended Armthorpe’s four match-winning run and propel Selby up to sixth.
The Robins produced one of their best displays of the campaign, without captain Ryan Gothard and star striker Chris Jackson, now back in Australia. Stewart, who played for Selby last season, filled Jackson’s void nicely.
Clamp’s 30-yard wonder strike set Selby on their way in the first half.
Selby turned on the swash-buckling style in the second half and had the points sown-up by the 76th minute.
The victory is a massive boost to Selby who like most clubs have been badly-affected by the horrendous weather over the past eight weeks.
“It has been hard (the last two months),” Christian Fox told Non League Yorkshire.
“We usually train on the pitch, but that’s been out of action so we have been scrambling around to get pitches to train.
“Other teams have lost games. A few teams have kept playing, but momentum at this level is massive.”
Speaking before Stewart’s return, Fox did admit that he was actively searching for new bodies to help address injuries and suspension concerns for the winter fixtures.
“We need to assess the personnel we have got and we may need to bring some bodies in,” he said.
“We’re always thinking and looking anyway. We’ll probably have one game where Goth and Ali will be banned to together.
“Goth is back after Saturday. We could easily become threadbare though and we need to be aware of that. That has happened in the past.”