IT was a case of lucky 13 for Colne as two comprehensive wins over the week maintained their climb up the table and pushed them into the title frame.
Nigel Coates’ men hammered Stone Dominoes 7-0 on Saturday, and backed that up with a 6-0 home victory on Tuesday night to take over as the league’s highest scorers.
On Tuesday night, after a scrappy start there were signs of what was to come when Dominic Craig - fresh from scoring four goals on Saturday - and Mickey Saunders both raced through the high line of Bacup’s defence, but were denied by good goalkeeping by Ryan Jones.
And after quarter-of-an-hour Jason Hart had the ball in the net only for the goal to be disallowed for an earlier infringement.
But the Reds took a well deserved lead after Bacup failed to clear Hart’s free kick fand Craig clipped the ball to Ben Hoskin, who drilled the ball past the helpless Jones.
To compound Bacup’s misfortune, just before the break Jones jarred his shoulder and was unable to resume for the second half. Bacup had no choice but to replace Jones with outfield player Matthew Maine.
Five minutes into the half Hart increased Colne’s lead when he robbed Arron Kirk and raced clear before blasting into the far corner.
On 55 minutes Ashley Carter played in Hart, who showed good feet before shooting into the near corner.
Hayden Paul did not help Bacup’s cause when he committed a reckless tackle on Craig and was immediately shown a straight red card.
The situation was ripe for exploitation by the rampant Reds, and on 75 minutes Hart completed his hat-trick after Saunders slipped his marker and switched the play to the far post, where Hart calmly chipped the ball past Maine.
With 10 minutes remaining Ed O’Neill’s free kick picked out Hoskin, who laid the ball back to Tom Fowler for an easy tap-in.
The score could have been much higher but for two good saves by Maine from Craig and Saunders.
Meanwhile Colne’s keeper Chris Thompson dealt well with the occasional threat from the dejected Bacup forwards and Michael Morrison and Ashley Carter completely dominated the midfield areas.
Colne’s sixth goal came in the final minutes when O’Neill picked out Mark Coyne at the far post, who brought the ball under control before he side-footed home - just reward for his hard work during the game.
On Saturday Colne travelled to Stone Dominoes and dished out another heavy defeat to the basement side.
The game began evenly, but the situation changed dramatically after Coyne had put the ball in the net, only for the goal to be disallowed.
From this moment Colne began to get the ball down and play. And on 15 minutes the Reds opened the scoring when Hart chased a long ball down the left which looked like a lost cause, but his pace took him past the defenders before flighting the ball over the keeper into the top far corner from a narrow angle.
Five minutes later Craig increased Colne’s lead when he battled his way past some strong challenges and then picked his spot and blasted into the far corner.
Colne were now in total control. Morrison and Carter were dictating the pace of the game while Scott Moore and Hoskin restricted Stone’s efforts to a solitary free kick on the edge of the area which did not threaten Thompson’s goal.
Before the break Colne had more chances to increase their lead. Saunders had two shots cleared off the line, Fowler’s header from a corner was diverted past the post off a defender’s shin, and Craig’s shot was narrowly wide.
In the second half Colne ran rampant against a dejected Stone team, which had no answers to their opponents’ quick passing and running off the ball.
In the opening minutes of the half Craig, O’Neill and Saunders all had chances before on 50 minutes, Cliffe punched out a cross which fell to Hoskin, who blasted home past a wall of defenders.
Three minutes later Craig made it four when he latched onto a through ball from O’Neill, and after beating the last defender he passed the ball into the corner of the net.
With 15 minutes remaining Craig completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after he had been brought down by Joseph Wooliscroft, who was immediately shown a red card.
Two minutes later Saunders played in James Crorken who made it six when he raced through and calmly rolled the ball into the far corner.
On 80 minutes Craig crowned his man of the match performance with a fourth goal after another penetrating run through the Stone defence.
Colne entertain Maine Road at the XLCR Stadium tomorrow.