Central in seven heaven on Saturday afternoon.

A first-half brace from Fuhad Kasali sent Central well on their way to a convincing 7-1 over 10th placed Astley and Tyldesley.

Djankpata, Martin and Silva all added in the first 45 making it 5-0 before Kasali completed his hattrick 2 minutes after the interval.

Wiwoloku’s 65th minute strike made it seven before the visitors bagged a consolation in injury time.

Central started brightly with Tawab Djankpata almost capitalising on a mistake from the Astley goalkeeper in the first minute but was just unable to find the target.

Tawab was causing the visiting defence all sorts of problems and just six minutes in he squared unselfishly to Kasali who rolled the ball into the back of the net for 1-0.

It could so easily have been two within minutes but Silvas effort was smothered by the Astley keeper as Central began to turn the screw early on.

Kasali doubled his tally just before the quarter of an hour mark firing an unstoppable effort into the top corner after a lovely cut in from the right hand side.

The Astley defence continues to be tormented by Djankpata and after a few more near misses, he finally made it three. Some lovely footwork on the edge of the box afforded him the space to find the bottom corner via the post.

Kaine Martin then got in on the act just three minutes later, rifling home from close range to make it 4-0 as Manchester Central really began running away with the tie.

Astley seemingly had no response to the Central onslaught as Djankpata again went close after a fantastic run only to be denied by the outstretched arm of the visiting goalkeeper.

Saving the best till last in the first-half Central found themselves 5-0 up at the break courtesy of Junior Silva’s special strike. The Central number 10 picked the ball up on the right and swazzed one in off the far post as the Astley goalkeeper struggled to read the curl and dip on the strike.

Junior Silva in action

The visitors had a mountain to climb at the break and it didnt take long for Central to get started again in the second half.

Kasali found himself free through the middle and calmly slotted home to complete his hattrick and make it six for Central.

The chances kept flowing for Central with Silva going close but eventually it was substitute Gabriel Wiwoloku who next breached the Astley defence.

Having come on for the impressive Djankpata, Wiwoloku only needed 10 minutes or so before he added himself to the scoresheet, a calm finish from the right to slot home Central’s seventh of the afternoon.

As both teams began to tire the game became quite scrappy and gave Astley the chance to grab an injury time consolation goal. The A&T forward managed to narrowly avoid the offside trap and fire home to finish procedings at 7-1.

An impressive performance from the home side which makes it three wins on the bounce for Chris Tomkinson’s side.

The manager was delighted with his sides performance saying “It’s great to see the hard work on the training pitch coming out in matches. 3 wins on the bounce, 17 scored 2 conceded, it doesn't get much better than that. We’ve had a bit of a stop start season with rearranged fixtures and the like but hopefully now we can kick on as it gets to the business end of the season.”

The three points for Central sees them move to within 9 points of second places Leigh Genesis, with 6 games in hand over the Leythers.

Next up for both sides is each other as Astley and Tyldesley host Manchester Central at the Gin Pit in the return fixture on the 19th of March.