NCEL: Davey lauds Knaresborough hat-trick hero Heath

Heath stole the show in Knaresborough’s emphatic 6-0 victory, as Ben Parkes, Liam Gray and Matthew Pascal also registered for Davey’s side.

The hat-trick took Heath’s goal tally to eight for the season and five in his last three games after an injury-plagued start to the campaign.

Davey was particularly impressed with the burgeoning partnership between Heath and Mitchell Hamilton who have now scored a combined 18 goals this season.

He said: “Colin is getting fitter and fitter and, at his age, if you pick up a knock it takes a little while to get back into it. He looks a different player now and, with Mitch doing a lot of running off the ball, their partnership is really growing.

“The squad is delighted that Colin is back and he’s getting better week by week. We’’re winning more often now and only playing once a week but Colin is wanting to play twice at the moment.

“We made Colin captain a couple of games back and that level of seniority that he now has should being the young lads along. In those two games he’s led the team we’ve done very well and everyone looks up to him.

“We have shown a lot of faith in him but were not getting a lot out of him at the start of the season but, on his day, there are not too many better strikers in this league.”

The comprehensive win over Rangers means Knaresborough have now won three consecutive games in Division 1 for the first time this season.

Despite the resounding win, Davey said that the match was not his side’s best performance of the season while stressing the importance of the clean sheet.

He said: “I still think the second half against Pontefract Collieries, even though we lost, was the best performance of the season. We were outstanding and that seemed to be when we turned our fortunes around.

“It was a good performance and we were two up at half time but I was also most impressed that we were able to keep a clean sheet.

“When we were struggling, the hardest part was that we were throwing games away, giving penalties away and going down to ten men. We have stopped doing that and have learnt how to keep a clean sheet.”

Davey said he is targeting a home victory against Winterton Rangers on Saturday but insisted his side ‘won’t be taking them lightly’ after needing a last-minute winner when the sides met on November 4.