MOORS boss Tim Flowers had reason to be cheerful on Tuesday night after his Solihull side marched to the top of the National League table with a 3-0 win at Aldershot Town.
Nathan Blissett’s perfect hat-trick, with left and right foot strikes added to by a header, brought a vital three points home with the Moors as they lead the promotion chase with 13 games left to play.
Flowers felt the result and the performance embodied the characteristics of Moors’ play which have brought them great success all season up to this point.
“It’s terrific. It’s a wonderful achievement for everybody, but more so the players.
“You saw the commitment level – the header from Blissett epitomised our season really.
“It was a 50-50 challenge and the will, the determination and the bravery to go in with his head and head it in from outside the box was sensational.”
He believes their current standing at the summit of the league is a just reward for their efforts over the 33 games played so far, and says his team are able to switch it up against whoever they face.
“For a few weeks now they’ve been there to be shot at. The higher you climb, the clearer people can see you,” Flowers said.
“Some of our play was excellent. The little flick from Hylton for the second was sublime.”
“People have been changing their teams to be physical and strong, which is fine because we can go the other way. We can play and have players who can tear teams apart.”
Red cards for Luke Maxwell and Danny Wright at Aldershot kept them out of the side, with three changes in Lee Vaughan, Terry Hawkridge and Blissett.
Flowers explained the decision to bring in new signing Vaughan into the team ahead of Tyrone Williams, and could not hide his frustration at last weekend’s suspensions for Maxwell and Wright.
“Tyrone (Williams) took a big whack on the inside knee on Saturday which sparked the brawl, it’s still inexplicable how they’ve not had their red cards reduced at least.
“It surprises me and it disappoints me but we’ve lost two very good players for three games each through no fault of their own.
“We decided to rest him (Williams) tonight and get Lee into the fold straight away, I know what he’s going to bring to us.”
Jamey Osborne and Hawkridge went close with strikes in the opening-half, whilst debutant Vaughan made an excellent block down the other end to shut out the hosts.
Blissett then broke the deadlock in the 14th minute, flicking in Liam Daly’s header after Osborne’s corner to the far-post.
Ryan Boot dealt well with John Goddard’s snap-shot from a free-kick move before the break with Moors needing a second goal to ease the pressure.
Adi Yussuf could only send the ball over the bar after meeting Jamie Reckord’s whipped cross, but Blissett would make amends for his fellow forward when slotting home Jermaine Hylton’s square ball.
Blissett secured his hat-trick goal late on when leaping to meet a long-ball forward, beating a defender and the keeper – who wandered out of his goal – to the ball which rolled into the net.
Moors now face 17th placed Barnet at home this Saturday (3pm), but will be wary of their opponents after a 2-0 loss in October’s reverse fixture.
