STUART Wellstead says feet are firmly on the ground at Rylands despite another stunning result.

The Blues hammered North West Counties Division One South leaders Wythenshawe Amateurs 5-1 at Gorsey Lane on Saturday.

That makes it 18 goals scored and only two conceded in four successive wins that see second-placed Rylands close the gap to one point with a game in hand.

Two Wellstead strikes inside 10 minutes gave his side the perfect start for the second week running, with Tom Croughan (22mins), Ste Wolhuter (38) and Elliot Jones (65) also netting.

Wythenshawe's only response came a minute from the end.

"The previous week (in a 6-0 win against Abbey Hulton United) we scored four goals in the first eight minutes, so to get one after 54 seconds on Saturday was another great start," said player/co-manager Wellstead.

"Wythenshawe are a good side and play some nice football but weren't really hurting us.

"Then we scored again in the 10th minute, so to be 2-0 up kind of meant us sitting back a little bit and defending as a team – in a way saying to them "what havve you got, can you get through us?"

"It was all about managing the game really, which is what we've tried to instil in the players over the past few weeks.

"We did some great defending as a team to limit their chances.

"It was a bit of a shame to concede in the 89th minute after an initial good save from the keeper.

"One of their guys followed it in and we probably switched off a bit, so that was a little frustrating.

"It would have been brilliant to beat them 5-0 but to beat the top-of-the-league side 5-1 is a remarkable result."

He added: "It's still early days. What we're saying internally is that we'll know who's going to be challenging come the end of November.

"Normally you either have one team running away with it and teams chasing after them, or you have a group of three or four teams that have broken clear by six or eight points and you see from there who are the challengers."It's still early days, we're nearly a quarter of the way through the season so there's still a lot to play for and nobody's getting carried away, but to win four in a row at such an early stage is really good after having to nearly completely rebuild the squad."

Next up is a trip to third-placed Cheadle Heath on Saturday.

"These tests are coming thick and fast but we've stood up to them so far," said Wellstead.

"We'll be going into it full of confidence and marking out the jobs we've been setting out for the team. It will be interesting to see how we respond."