So despite Burton doing their best Rushden impression, City run out deserved 3-0 winners thanks to some inspired substitutions on a blustery afternoon at the Park that paid more than a passing resemblance to the Somme rather than a football pitch in front of a healthy 3475 fans. City lined up: Paul Jones; Billy Jones, Todd, Edwards, Tully; Moxey, Gill, Buckle, Carlisle; Challinor, Mackie.

The old adage of 'it ain't broke don't fix it' rings true on the good ship ECFC these days, so with that in mind it was only one change to the starting line up from the one against Rushden a couple of days ago; Dean Moxey slotting in at left midfield in place of the suspended Lee Elam. It took a while for both teams to settle though - the recent weather has had a big effect on the pitch and the valiant efforts of the groundstaff should be applauded in getting a game on at all. It wasn't until the quarter hour mark that we saw the first meaningful action: a Carlisle corner to the far post being nodded back into the melee by Buckle before eventually being hacked away to safety.

Five minutes later a long Gill throw into the box was cleared to Moxey 20 yards out but unfortunately his powerful shot couldn't find it's way through a crowded penalty area and this too was hacked away to safety as well. On the half hour good work down the left from Challinor, Jones and Moxey fashioned a chance for Mackie but he dragged his shot into the near post side netting from the edge of the area. Mackie again was involved ten minutes later squirming into the box and riding tackles before pulling the ball back to the lurking Challinor who, caught slightly on the hop, hoisted the ball over the bar with his wrong foot.

With time fast running out it was Challinor's turn to weave as he skipped past challenge after challenge in the box before standing the ball up to the far post. Unfortunately Moxey gambled wrongly and went to the near post in anticipation and watched in anguish as the ball sailed over his head and away harmlessly. In the final minute of the half Challinor chased down a defender to his corner flag and as the defender launched the ball clear caught him with a very late and poorly timed challenge. It didn't look overly clever, but the ref deemed it sufficient to earn a yellow card and thus take Challinor to booking number five and an automatic suspension.

The second half started a lot more brightly with City keen to turn first half territorial advantage into more than just a pleasing statistic. In the second minute Challinor tried to shield a long ball pumped up to the edge of the box and watched Mackie collect behind him. Unfortunately Mackie's shot wasn't of quite the calibre of his turn and I suspect the ball is still sailing past Debenhams even now. A couple of minutes later it was Challinor's turn to waste an effort; his turn and shot inside the box lacking the power and direction to trouble the keeper.

Then on fifteen minutes the turning point of the match came when Mackie and Carlisle made way for Logan and Stansfield. Both went straight up front with Challinor dropping into Carlisle's spot out wide on the ride. The effect was instantaneous with at last someone to win the ball in the air and outmuscle big Burton defenders.

After twenty minutes Logan set Stansfield away down the left where his ferocious shot was well parried but straight to Moxey 25 yards out who could only smash the rebound narrowly wide. But this merely set the scene for what was to come as a minute later as Stansfield again set off through the middle despite the close attentions of a desperate defender. Stansfield held him off and once inside the area let fly with a vicious drive that was fantastically saved, but the ref decided the defender's attentions were a little too close and awarded City a somewhat controversial penalty. To compound matters for Burton, the defender adjudged to have fouled was red carded as the last defender,thus reducing Burton to ten men for the remaining twenty five minutes.

Despite missing his previous two at the Park - both against Kidderminster: one in the league and one in the FA Trophy - Billy Jones stepped up confidently. We needn't have doubted him as he righteously smashed the spot kick home high to the keeper's left as he dived low to the right to give City a thoroughly deserved 1-0 lead.

Midway through the half, and with City cruising, Stansfield returned the compliment to Logan inviting him to charge through and chase a ball into the box. However, despite winning the chase and having a one on one with the keeper fifteen yards out, Logan scuffed wastefully wide.

But on the half hour the game was made safe. A long raking cross field ball found Moxey in space on the left who cleverly played the ball inside a defender for the rushing Jones. He collected the ball just inside the box where he was scythed down by an awful Burton challenge to give the ref no option but to award City a second penalty in eight minutes. This time Logan stepped up to hammer the ball low and hard down the middle to give the keeper no chance and make it 2-0 to City.

Five minutes later manager Tisdale decided Buckle had had enough chasing and harrying so let him rest for the final ten minutes giving Cozic a run out in his stead. Five further minutes of City domination elapsed before City next chance presented itself - Logan powering a downward header from a corner goalwards that somehow was desperately cleared off the line to safety.

The final minute approached and with City at ease and Burton in pieces City ran the clock down with a superb 19 pass move (yes, I counted them all!) that was bought to an end when Cozic strayed fractionally offside ghosting into the box on the end of a through ball that he normally does so well. But it wasn't quite over, and the final action came in the 92nd minute with the best piece of skill in the game. Spotting a gap Moxey dinked the ball over a defender into a space almost exactly half way between the defender and his keeper. The keeper rushed out, and sensing the ball was there to be won, Stansfield rushed across from the middle of the park in a straight race between the two. Stansfield got there a yard early and in one delicious movement lofted the ball sublimely over the keeper and into the empty net from 20 yards to put the icing on the cake of a very satisfying team and individual performance.

But for much of the game it looked like Rushden all over again. Burton players were dropping like flies and frankly it was getting embarrassing watching their physio running on every couple of minutes. The conditions didn't help City overcome this timewasting and playacting, but as far as overall play was concerned Burton just weren't in it and all of the passing, shots, cleverness and guile came from City. Indeed, during the entire ninety minutes Burton's solitary attempt on goal was a looping header that an U10s keeper would have gathered with ease.

In goal Jones once again he had a good afternoon. Once again his kicking was impeccable, and once again on crosses his handling was assured. In front of him Todd and Edwards lapped up whatever Burton tried with ease, and the three of them together showed just why City have now gone 450 minutes and the whole of February without conceding a goal. Full back Billy Jones enjoyed himself today, scoring one penalty and earning his side another, and on the opposite side Steve Tully is showing why we're not missing Danny Woodards at all.

In midfield it was another frustrating afternoon for the two in the middle early on. Gill in particular found it tricky controlling the ball and setting up play as he usually does, but he stuck to his task and gave little joy to the opposition. Buckle again turned in a man of the match performance and is fast turning himself into a serious player of the season candidate too, showing huge levels of stamina and fitness to keep up a relentless succession of tackles and running. On the right Carlisle battled hard but in reality it wasn't a day for wingers as he found few opportunities to break away and get the crosses in. Over on the other side Moxey had quite a good game I thought, effortlessly slotting in for the suspended Elam. Despite not playing for an age, he showed good determination to keep going throughout and was always keen to support the attack with a couple of efforts on goal. His part in two of the goals should not be underestimated either; setting up Billy Jones for the second penalty and putting the ball through for Stansfield for his goal.

Up front Mackie has a thankless task. Glue pot pitches do nothing for him and although he managed a couple of efforts today was never going to be his day. By the same token it made it difficult for Challinor playing just behind him, and it took the substitutions to bring Challinor more into the game.

But what inspirational changes they turned out to be. Tisdale could see the strikers were getting nowhere and that Carlisle just couldn't properly get going, so gave Stansfield and Logan a half hour run out. Stansfield was simply electric and looked dangerous every time he touched the ball, which was often. His speed of foot for the third goal was matched only by his speed of thought to cleverly lob the looming large keeper for a quite wonderful finish and is possibly the only player at the club capable of such a run and finish that maybe has earned himself a start next weekend. Surely if pitches continue to suffer at the hands of the weather as they are at the moment then perhaps Mackie deserves a rest with Stansfield starting instead? His sub partner Logan came on to great effect too, winning an awful lot of balls in the air and at last giving the defence something to think about. His debut City goal was just reward for his efforts, especially after being denied by the referee earlier in the week against Rushden.

So the whole of February unbeaten with four wins in five matches and no goals conceded. What a month! Hopefully March will prove equally as fruitful, and now it appears we have a squad capable of sustaining a promotion push. At the start of the season the loss of Challinor would have been a major setback - it's still nothing to be happy about now - but with City finishing the game with neither Elam or Carlisle on the pitch and Lee Phillips to come back it gives Tisdale some interesting permutations for the coming matches.

And thick and fast they come too, with a whopping eight games due to be played in March. First one at the Park is Grays a week on Tuesday, following our return visit to Rushden next weekend. Hopefully we can get the rewards next week that we should have on Tuesday before the freefalling Grays visit. If we have six more points by the end of that game it should really let the rest of the division know what we're about, and we have our part to play too.

Frustration could have boiled over today but the crowd remained patient, got behind the team and were rewarded by a fine second half performance. Let's continue to build the atmosphere at home and once again turn the Park into a place teams fear to visit, starting with Grays in ten days time. Plenty of time to save those pennies and warm up those vocal chords - not that you'd even think of missing a game at this crucial stage of the season anyway. Bring it on!