CLEE Hill United manager Wayne Whitbread said his side took no delight in burying Tenbury Town in a landslide of goals on Saturday.

Rock-bottom Tenbury’s woes were deepened as they were routed 13-0, with the title-chasing hosts having gone in 5-0 up at the break.

A magnanimous Whitbread told the Advertiser: “We take no pleasure out of beating them like that, because we’ve been on the end of results like that down the years.

"But you have to look out for yourself and goal difference might be important at the end of the season, so we’ve got to keep plugging away.”

And the Clee Hill boss had words of encouragement for counterpart Keiran Fish as the Tenbury manager battles to hoist his side off the foot of the Herefordshire County League Saturday Premier division table.

“They don’t stop working,” said the Clee Hill manager of Tenbury, “they put everything in for each other and the team. They’ve got every chance, they just caught us on a good day.”

Whitbread admitted his side’s first goal – scored by Josh Carpenter after ten minutes – came “against the run of play”, and said the match was quite even until a quickfire double from Sean Millward and Liam Whitbread midway through the first half put his side in control.

Craig Breakwell added a brace before the interval and eight more goals came in the second half, as Carpenter nailed down three more, Ben Slingsby scored two and James Clifford, Charlie Edwards and Ollie Smith got in on the act.

There is the prospect of some relief for the division’s basement side, with Fish’s men originally due to play the reverse fixture on Saturday but having informed the league before the weekend’s drubbing that the fixture would have to be postponed.

“I don’t like playing the same team two weeks running, irrelevant of the score, because I don’t think it’s right,” said Clee Hill’s Whitbread. “There’s no rush to play fixtures, by the time we get to Christmas I think we’ve got five months to play 15 games, if we play too many now we’ll be finished in March!”

Victory keeps Clee Hill in a good place, sat second, 11 points behind leaders Wellington Reserves and with four games in hand plus a goal difference already 10 better.

But with United without a fixture this weekend, their next two planned league fixtures are at home to the only sides they have dropped points against this season, Westfields Reserves and Malvern Town Reserves.

United lost their second match of the season 4-3 at Westfields and drew 1-1 at Malvern in late October. If Whitbread’s men can negotiate those two matches, the two as-yet unscheduled matches against Wellington will probably be title deciders.

Tenbury Town lost 2-1 at Kington last week, to see their third-from bottom hosts open a six-point, 26-goal gap on them, as well as boasting a game in hand. They are due to return to action at Ewyas Harold on December 8.