Ten out of ten for Funk's '˜amazing' tabletoppers AFC Mansfield

Manager Rudy Funk, who was full of praise for his tabletopping AFC Mansfield side after another victory.

AFC earned their tenth successive league victory by defeating mid-table Bridlington Town 2-0 to surge 14 points clear of second-placed Hansworth Parramore, whom they play away from home in a crunch match this Saturday.

And Funk could not disguise his delight afterwards. “Well done to Bridlington for their valiant efforts, but all in all, it was another amazing victory for our lads,” he said. “The two goals we scored were of the highest, highest quality.”

Those goals were netted by Philip Buxton and Connor Smythe as the Bulls made it 13 matches without defeat (11 wins and two draws) at home in the league this term.

Buxton gave AFC the lead inside two minutes when Jimmy Ghaichem’s low cross found his teammate, who made no mistake from 12 yards out by smashing the ball into the top corner.

Bridlington responded bravely and their striker, Jake Day, was denied only by a sprawling save from home goalkeeper Jason White early in the second half.

But on 58 minutes, the Bulls’ advantage was doubled when a stunning 40-yard effort from Ollie Fearon crashed off the underside of the bar and Smythe was on hand to tuck away the rebound on the half-volley.

The visitors are managed by 37-year-old former Mansfield Town and Sheffield United player-turned champion professional boxer Curtis Woodhouse. And they continued to take the fight to AFC.

But in front of a crowd of 70, AFC pressed Woodhouse’s troops for the entirety of the game and duly reaped their rewards. They restricted Bridlington to few chances and have now conceded only nine goals in those 13 league matches at home.

This delighted Funk’s assistant manager, Mark Ward, who said: “It was all about keeping the right mentality. When we were 2-0 up, we were both screaming at the lads to keep working hard and to stick together.

“I saw a tweet from Lee Morris, speaking about us having 18 players to choose for a midweek game from on a cold Wednesday night. We’ve had that response all season, and the work the lads are putting in is coming to fruition.”

Victory at Handsworth would give AFC a massive advantage in the title race, even though the Yorkshire side have three games in hand.