Buxton show plenty of promise in win over Stocksbridge Park Steels

Nonetheless the Bucks again showed enough promise in both halves for another successful campaign after sealing a 3-0 win.

Buxton attacked the Ashwood End in the opening period, featuring six of the championship-winning stars and several promising trialists, one of whom was rightly entrusted with all the corners and free-kicks, so that early on Sean Newton and then a trialist centre-back missed the target with set-piece headers from his deliveries.

However, in the 14th-minute, the dead-ball specialist cleverly fed Diego De Girolamo with a free-kick and the unmarked striker made the most of the opportunity. At the other end, approaching quarter-time, the visitors' striker wriggled clear on the right but his shot only found Theo Richardson's side-netting.

A feature of this most watchable half was the punishing pace of Warren Clarke as he frequently outstripped defenders to produce several telling crosses, yet it was a diagonal low pass,j ust prior to half-time, that set up the second goal, with a trialist striker finding the net.

The expected changes for the second half saw appearances by new signings Jack McKay, Jake Moult and Declan Poole, all of whom looked the part. Additionally, a trialist goalkeeper was given an outing, while James Hardy and Jason Gilchrist featured, with the latter showing composure and confidence in a 67th-minute, 15-yard clinical finish from an accurate pass, to complete the Bucks' scoring.