How fantastic was that ? Brilliant stuff last night from City with our front four totally dominant throughout. Burgess, Elliott, Price and Walters ran the show from the off taking turns to set each other up for a plethora of chances. Quite how the visitors limited us to just the three goals is a complete mystery. We're back to winning ways again and, with none of the teams directly below us managing to bag three points, everything is looking decidedly greener again on our side of the fence.

No surprise that Mr T made no changes to either personnel or formation from Sat'day's victory over the Scunts. The Os, in a smart change kit of black shirts and ruby red shorts, fielded Gary Alexander up front and a particularly thuggish number 5, ex-Brentford man McGhee, in midfield; more on him later.

And by lordy did we boss those early exchanges ? Time and again we broke quickly and effectively, giving their back four a right old torrid time. Price was involved in most things as we concentrated on pressurising their nervous looking left back. We were denied by a combination of slightly over-hit final passes, an alert keeper and some extravagant decisions from the lino in front of the east stand. But on we pressed and so the chances became increasingly more clear cut. Three times Price whipped over crosses from his touch line to great effect. The first, a low skidder behind their defence, was met by a sliding Burgess at the far post but he couldn't direct his touch on target. The next was met by a trademark Elliott header and, despite the defenders seemingly having an age to clear it, Burgess stuck out a leg and poked a shot just wide again. From the third, Elliott thumped a header into the side netting. All this and still less than 20 mins gone.

Finally the breakthrough. Walters picked up a pass in centre field and played in Elliott whose run was timed to perfection to beat the off side trap. He had a 20 yard dash into the area from where he finished clinically to the keeper's right. And about time too. Thoroughly deserved.

Having roasted them down the right, we spend the remaining 20 odd minutes doing the same over on the left and conjured up enough openings for Elliott to have completed a hat trick before the interval. The best came after a pass, down the inside left channel, seemed to have been over hit and was heading out for a goal kick until Burgess lunged forward, not only to retrieve it, but also to place it neatly into the path of the Ulsterman as he raced in from the wing. The finish was thunderous but unfortunately a foot or so over from no more than 10 yards out. Walters was also getting in on the act and looked considerably more confident in possession than he had done at the weekend. His best effort was a drive across the face of the goal and only narrowly wide, after latching onto a weak defensive header inside the box.

In amongst all that the Os did have the audacity to wander into our half now and again. Alexander had a handful of half chances without ever hitting the target. But the half finished as it had begun with Price giving them a real scare after racing between the two centre halves and forcing a good low save from the keeper. As good a first half as we've seen for quite a while then and an appreciative crowd of over 15,000 expressed their pleasure with raptuous applause as our heroes left the field for a well-earned cuppa.

On the resumption, the team were just as positive and adventurous and the entertainment, if anything, flicked up a further notch. This was thoroughly enjoyable stuff, let me tell you, and the star of the show was again Big Ben. He set off in terrific form from the restart displaying every one of his skills and talents and maybe even one or two others that we are less likely to expect from him. He collected the ball close to the bye line, left hand side, and with a combination of brute strength, some intricate and fancy footwork, and a splash of patience, he worked himself half a yard in which to float over a glorious cross (left footed) to the waiting Price at the far post. Showing no respect for this beautiful piece of play and ignoring the fact that it clearly deserved to end in a goal, one of theirs nipped in with a last gasp header to concede the corner. And then two more bits of great link-up play from the big fella gave opportunities to Elliott and Walters. The second, a delightfully deft flick with the outside of the boot, put Walters clear. He chose to halt, turn and fire in with his right foot but again it went just the wrong side of the post.

A hint of nervous tension began to creep into the stomachs of the home fans as all these chances failed to produce the killer second goal. And to increase the anxiety even more, Leyton then came up with their best spell of play in the entire match. Three or four corners produced a hint of panic in the Tigers rearguard. None of them were dealt with particularly well and we saw shots fizz just wide of our posts. The one blockbuster that did seem to be heading for the back of the net was cleared from under the bar by whose forehead ? Yep, Burgess's. Thankfully we weathered the stormlet, took the hint, and promptly went up the other end to finish the game off. Price and Ashbee did well to win the ball back by the right corner flag. Ash looks up, sees BB and Elliott haring into the box, eyes up his options, and tees it up perfectly for Ben to bury a header past the stranded goalie from close range. Toptastic.

Substitutions ensue as the visitors try to change things round and we take the opportunity to give our benchwarmers a run out. Allsopp on for Walters and also the end of proceedings for McGhee. He'd been guilty of a series of niggling and sometimes nasty fouls all night and was constantly gobbing off to the officials. Once of the Bees, now of the Os, he ought to mind his Ps and Qs. Silly Rs.

Just one slight scare from then on in as a good leap at the back post puts a header skimming off the top of Boaz's crossbar, but we are still totally in control and actively looking to add to the scoreline. No corner hugging, time wasting tactics this week. Allsopp gets himself into a couple of good positions with sharp turns but can't manage to overstretch the keeper. He would have had better chances if the lino hadn't continued with his comedy interpretation of the offside rule or the ref hadn't get every chance of playing the advantage criminally wrong. But, heh, we were in great form and loving every minute of it. More subs saw France and Green on for Price and Elliott and the two new boys combined for the icing on the cake. Greeny set off on a jinky run past two Os, got a bit of luck with the ricochet, and swung over a great cross from the left bye line. Two defensive touches later and it still wasn't cleared so one of theirs stepped up to hoof it away only to succeed in putting it back out to the left touchline. Greeny, to his credit, chased it down to keep the move alive and this time swung in a curling cross with his right boot which evaded all their defenders and reached both Burgess and France at the back stick. It was our young winger who nodded in from a yard out to seal the victory and send the crowd wild. "Go, Ryan France" screamed the south stand in unison and then fell immediately quiet again as they failed to come up with the name of a fourth commercial airline to continue the exclamation.