ST Neots Town came through their tricky three-day combo with flying colours, desite the M25 doing it’s best to make them late for their game at Burnham on Monday Night.

Stefan Moore scored two of the goals in the Saints’ impressive 3-1 FA Trophy win over Sutton Coldfield Town at the Hunts Post Community Stadium on Saturday, while Tolley got the other. Then Tolley scored twice at Burnham where Dennis Greene’s team won 3-0 in the league.

Many of St Neots players had already spent a day at work before climbing aboard the coach for the 80-mile trip to Burnham on the outskirts of Slough. The coach left town at 4.30pm but got held up on London’s infamous ring-road and didn’t reach its destination until almost 7pm, 45 minutes from kick-off.

It was hardly surprising then that the players looked tired in the first half. In the second they came alive and, after Tolley had got his first, a cheeky header back across goal which went in off the far post, the introduction of substitutes Junior Konadu and Dan Jacob spurred the team on further.

Tolley got his second when his downward header was diverted into the goal off the boot of a defender – and the third came from centre back Chris Hope, who was only using one leg at the time.

Having picked up an ankle injury, Hope left the field for treatment but decided to carry on because Greene had already used his three substitues.

Pushed up front to keep out of danger, Hope found the ball at his feet 20-yards from goal and decided that the only sensible thing to do was strike it with his good but wrong left foot. It flew in.

On the Saturday, against a side with way more Trophy experience, the Saints were also excellent. This time is was Stefan Moore who scored two with Tolley having to settle for a single. The first goal – a Moore tap in – came in the 32nd minute; Lewis Hilliard’s deep cross was nodded back into the danger area by Lewis Webb and the striker got his head to the ball to direct it home.

Tolley broke his relative drought, he hadn’t scored since Septmeber 13, two minutes into the second half after some great work by winger Pearson Mwangyongo and Moore. And it was Moore who raced on to a Tolley flick-on for the Saints third.

There was just about time for a Sutton Coldfield consolation before it was all over.

After those two games, no wonder the manager was sounding thrilled as the coach sped home from Burnham. “It’s good to see Shane get on the scoresheet even though one of them was a bit dubious,” he joked. “He headed it back across goal and it might have taken a deflection – so we’re not sure if it’s his.” And what about starting with the same 11 players for both games? “It’s nice to get a bit of continuity with an unchanged side – it was a tough game with a lot of six footers so we had to work hard with the second balls, but we always had chances.

“They’re tricky games these, midweek games – some of the players had to leave work at three or three-thirty because we set off on the coach at 4.45pm. We have a lot of understanding bosses to thank.”

It’s a good job then that St Neots’ next long trip south is on a Saturday – this Saturday in fact; the Saints are away at bottom-of-the-table North Greenford United, who are inside the M25 in north west London, instead of around a little and then just outside.