WHITCHURCH Alport boss Luke Goddard insists his side are coming up on the rails after Ben Mills secured a fifth straight win with a last-minute finish at FC Oswestry Town.

Alport are up to fifth in the North West Counties Division One following the win and can reach second if they win all three games in hand.

But while Goddard admitted his side were well below their usual standards at Oswestry, he believes they are now starting to gather momentum.

“We’re trying to build momentum as it’s been a tough couple of months with no games,” he said.

“We’re the form team now with five wins on the bounce and we go into Saturday’s game with St Helens looking to finish 2017 on a high before we kick into the new year.

“We’ve just said it – they’re wins that get you promoted. It wasn’t perfect and we lacked a lot of quality today.

“But we know this Christmas period is about picking up maximum points and that means not playing well sometimes. On Saturday, we were ok but not brilliant and today, Oswestry will feel hard done by.

“I think they had more quality than us but our lads have shown some grit and got us three massive points.”

Mills came off the bench to score and Goddard feels the strength-in-depth he can call on will be vital in the weeks to come.

He added: “The bench today was always going to be important; we’ve got Mills, Mike Blundell who was top scorer last year and Kev Street who’s been around the block.

“We’ve won the game from the bench and a scruffy goal too. I suppose that was the difference today because they played nice football but couldn’t score.”

On Saturday, Alport close out 2017 with another home game which pitches them against St Helens Town.

The sides haven’t met yet this season but it’s a game that Whitchurch will be expected to win. Saints though, will have been buoyed by their best result of the season at the weekend, which saw them turn around a half-time deficit, to land three precious points with just their second home win of the season.

The fact that it came against Alport’s promotion rivals Sandbach United should be enough to keep Goddard’s men on their guard.