Bashley'S Mark Lisk has long been recognised as one of the most gifted left-sided players in the local non-league game.

Amazingly, though, all the former Dorchester, Eastleigh and Lymington wing-back has to show for his efforts is a Hampshire Senior Cup runners-up medal for Basingstoke Town.

He deserves more and has a feeling in his bones that this could well be the season his luck changes.

Lisk's second spell with Bashley shows all the signs of being a memorable one. The New Forest club are sitting proudly aloft the Dr Martens Eastern Division and, such is the confidence and camaraderie within the camp, it would take a brave man to bet against them staying there.

After scoring twice in Saturday's 5-1 revenge attack on Histon, man-of-the-match Lisk, a pre-season signing from Basingstoke, reported: "I don't regret coming back to Bashley one bit. I'm really enjoying my football here.

"The dressing room spirit's great and we've got a really strong squad of players who all want to be involved. The people on the bench are champing at the bit to get in.

"The Bashley motto is all about working for each other. Everyone rolls their sleeves up and digs in for the team."

If ever there was a match tailor-made for knuckling down and pulling together, it was Saturday's.

Not only did Bash have the small matter of a 6-0 September hiding at Histon to flush out of their systems, but they had to do it on an energy-sapping mudheap of a pitch which had been declared fit at 9.30 that morning.

Lisk admitted he didn't think the game should have been played, but said: "It was the same for both sides and to be successful you've got to be able to adapt to any conditions.

"Getting tonked at Histon really hurt us and we wanted it more than they did today. There was no way we were going roll over, but to win by that sort of scoreline in those conditions was fantastic."

Hythe-based Lisk took a fair bit of ribbing about both his goals. The first - Bashley's 30th-minute opener - deflected in off a defender's leg and, hard as he tried to insist that his 87th-minute second was intentional, his teammates were having none of it.

Played in by Danny Gibbons, he was sliding full stretch as he squeezed in a cross from the left and no one - least of all Histon 'keeper Paul Barber - could quite believe it when it sailed in over his head.

"I saw the 'keeper off his line and he was expecting me to cross it, so I chipped him," said Lisk, keeping an admirably straight face. And he insisted: "No way was the first one an own goal. I don't score many, so that one's mine."

For a long time, it looked as if Bash would have to settle for the three goals that separated the teams at half-time.

Gibbons, a powerful 6ft 2in striker, had made light of the conditions to lift the ball over the diving 'keeper in the 36th minute and then, as the half entered stoppage time, Gary Connolly finished a flurry of first-time passes by audaciously chipping the luckless Barber from way out on the right.

The quality of those finishes alone would have been enough to brighten up a damp, grey afternoon for a disappointing 148 crowd, but Lisk's second goal three minutes from time heralded a bonus burst of action.

With 90 minutes on the clock hapless Histon defender Louie Farrington headed Craig Anstey's right-wing cross into his own net and then Bashley blotted their copybook for the first time all afternoon, letting in James Rowe for a soft consolation goal.

Histon had arrived at the Recreation Ground as the league's leading scorers, yet home 'keeper David Elm did not make his first meaningful save until the 83rd minute, turning away a shot by Neil Kennedy.

Manager Barry Blankley said: "The lads are a bit disappointed that they let Histon score at the death. If that hadn't gone in, it would have been our 14th clean sheet in the league.

"But take nothing away from the boys. The conditions today didn't suit our passing game, but we showed the biggest heart and desire to win.

"It would have been nice to have scored six like they did against us, but to get five in those conditions was brilliant.

"We're still top of the league, but we're taking nothing for granted. Eight of our remaining games are against top ten teams. We'll take each game as it comes."