The Magpies welcomed Littlehampton Town to The Nest on Armistice Day but with no interest in seeing a cessation to the winning run that was beginning to gain some momentum after their victory at Saltdean seven days earlier. For the first time this season they able to name the same starting line-up as the previous match and as such they took the field unchanged and the only change to the squad saw Callum Jardim come in for Gary Pritchard who had been suffering with illness all week.
The overnight rain had made for a heavy pitch, but credit to the ground staff who managed to get the game on when many others fell by the wayside. The going may have accounted for a start by the Magpies that was a little off the pace, but they were organised enough at the back to ensure that the visiting attack was kept at arm's length and as such both sides were limited to speculative efforts from distance, most notably for Littlehampton being Alex Laing's effort that didn't curl enough and struck the net-support behind the goal, whilst for the hosts, Tiago Andrade reacted instinctively to a knock-down from a free kick but his overhead kick went narrowly over.
The breakthrough came on the half hour though when Harry Bachelor seized on a partly cleared cross and instantly curled an inviting ball into the box where Byron Napper ghosted in-between the defenders and guided his header low beyond Mitchell Bromage in the Golds' goal. Ten minutes later the lead was doubled when Jordan Warren intercepted a long pass from the back and immediately marauded down the left-hand flank before delivering a first time cross that found Ollie Moore in the centre who planted a diving header back across Bromage, giving the young 'keeper no chance.
The scoring wasn't yet finished for the half as Warren set Bachelor away down the left and when the young midfielder cut back inside he committed Mark Zydonik who could only bring him down leaving the referee with little choice but to point to the spot, from which Andrade emphatically dispatched the ball into the net for a 3-0 lead at the break.
Conscious that the visitors would be keen to get back into the game swiftly after the restart, the Magpies set about quashing the threat from the off and it was Bachelor again at the forefront of it all. Moore slipped him in behind, this time on the right-hand side, and he showed both great composure and unselfishness to commit Bromage before squaring the ball to the supporting Andrade to tap into the unguarded goal for his second of the game.
This early goal appeared to knock the stuffing out of the visitors and with that the Magpies settled into a comfortable period of play where they managed their opponents effectively without having to exert themselves to any great degree. That didn't prevent opportunities arising though as a vicious free-kick delivery by Napper from out wide evaded everyone and came back off the upright just after the hour mark, and Andrade fashioned another overhead effort that flew narrowly wide.
With ten minutes to go though, and with newly introduced substitutes DJ Dominique and Dean Wright now fully into the game, the hosts moved up a gear and really put their visitors to the sword. Warren and Michael Wood combined well on the left before the ball was laid into Wright who neatly squared it to Moore, who took a touch before unleashing an unstoppable strike from 20 yards that flew into the top corner to seal his brace.
On 86 minutes a very deep free kick from Napper evaded the centre backs and up popped Wood at the far post to stoop and head the ball into the far corner for the 6th of the afternoon, but the scoring wasn't over. In the final minute Wright's industry down the left began a move that saw Dominique set Bachelor away and when his fierce cross-shot was spilled by Bromage the ball was pounced upon by Wright who poked home to complete a move he started some 50 yards further back only a matter of seconds earlier.
The Magpies celebrated a third win on the spin at the final whistle along with back-to-back clean sheets for the first time this season and they now look forward to a trip to Hassocks next Saturday before welcoming Horsham YMCA to The Next on 25 November.