MR Goals may have got in on the act again but it was Mr Consistency who took centre stage as Bashley upped the ante on Dr Martins Eastern Division leaders Salisbury and nailed their colours firmly to the championship mast.

A Craig Davis double followed by Danny Gibbons and Richard Gillespie strikes ensured Bash crushed Dartford 4-0 while a shock 3-2 defeat for Salisbury at Sittingbourne moved Barry Blankley's side to within four points of the Eastern Division summit.

In a devastatingly professional display, Bash found the target four times or more for the eighth time this term as Mr Consistency Davis continued his run as the team's chief provider with his 13th and 14th goals of the campaign.

But while news of Salisbury's demise swept around Bashley Road, prompting talk of the New Foresters' title credentials, Blankley remained like the proverbial duck with water pouring off his back.

He said: "Someone came into the changing room and told us Salisbury's result but the only result I was concerned with was ours.

"People may say we're now really pushing for promotion but I still believe it's way too early to talk about it.

"We've got to play a lot of the top teams, including Salisbury, twice and those are the teams who are always looking to take points off you.

"We'll take care of our own corner and let everybody else worry about themselves."

Despite neither team taking the match by the scruff of the neck during the early exchanges, Mat Jones was left wondering how he hadn't given Bash a second-minute lead when he nodded Darren Robson's free-kick wide with the goal at his mercy.

But West End-based Davis atoned for his teammate's profligacy on ten minutes.

With Jones' ball causing confusion between Darts keeper Tony Kessell and defender Terry Ratchford, Richard Gillespie headed into the path of the unmarked midfielder to rifle home the opener.

A missed tackle by Mark Jones allowed Darren Smith to dance through the Bash defence but David Elm was on hand to keep the Bash lead intact, turning Smith's shot round for a corner.

And when Gary Connolly's attempted left-foot curler cannoned off the back of a Dartford defender, Davis took the rebound in his stride to give Blankley's boys breathing space.

Gibbons made it three on the stroke of half-time as his header from a corner hit the underside of the crossbar and sneaked over the line before 'Golden Child' Gillespie added to his already impressive portfolio 15 minutes after the break.

Keeper Kessell, who was later put out of his misery and substituted, dropped Mat Jones' header at the feet of Gillespie and the 18-year-old Romsey lad, known in the reserves as Mr Goals, stabbed home his sixth in five games.

Graeme Gee, Dave Wakefield twice and Kevin James all went agonisingly close to inflicting more pain on their visitors, but in the end Blankley was just pleased with his side's commitment.

He added: "I wouldn't like to have tried to pick a man-of-the-match because everyone was superb.

"We worked hard closing people down, making things hard for Dartford and doing the ugly side of the game right until the final whistle.

"In the first half there were times when we tried to overdo it a bit but in the second half everyone was showing and the person with the ball always had three or four options.

"We could've had six or seven by the end."

Bashley: Elm, Mark Jones, Lisk, Mat Jones, Cook, Gee, Davis, Gibbons (James, 81), Gillespie (Wakefield, 81), Connolly. Unused subs: Anstey, Quirke, Darnton.