Campion AFC made it nine consecutive wins in all competitions with a dominant 3-0 victory over local rivals Thackley in a fiercely contested Bradford derby at the Anytime Couriers Stadium.

Despite the convincing scoreline, it was the visitors who started the brighter of the two sides. Thackley kept Campion on the back foot in the opening exchanges, repeatedly looking to get in behind the home defence and applying early pressure. Campion, however, showed resilience and composure to ride out the storm.

The breakthrough came on 26 minutes following excellent work from Ewan Gregson and Aidan Day. A well-worked move saw the pair combine intelligently before picking out Sonny Whittingham, who timed his late run into the penalty area to perfection and calmly struck home for his second goal in as many games to give the hosts a crucial lead.

Campion grew into the contest and could have doubled their advantage before the interval. Paddy Sykes and Shay Muirhead both found themselves in promising positions but were unable to capitalise, meaning the hosts went into the break just one goal to the good.

The second half began with renewed intensity from Campion, who looked determined to put the game beyond doubt. On 56 minutes, Gregson produced a moment of quality, pulling away down the left before cutting inside and expertly guiding a left-footed strike into the far corner to make it 2-0.

It wasn’t long before Gregson had his second of the afternoon — and Campion’s third. Picking up the ball in space, he drove at the Thackley defence and produced a fantastic solo effort, wrong-footing goalkeeper Liam Wilson before finishing confidently to cap an outstanding individual display.

With the game under control, manager Lee Ashforth made a series of changes. Chinedu Osadebe was handed his debut, while Jack Normanton, Kai Phillip and Ben Grech-Brooksbank were also introduced in place of Gregson, Paddy Sykes, Shay Muirhead and Joe Mitchell — the latter withdrawn after picking up a booking following an early altercation with former Campion midfielder Lewis Sugden.

Osadebe nearly marked his debut with a goal when a superb delivery from Grech-Brooksbank found him unmarked inside the area, but he unfortunately lost his footing at the crucial moment. Grech-Brooksbank then had a chance of his own from just outside the box, though his strike drifted narrowly wide of the post.

Campion saw the game out professionally to secure an emphatic 3-0 victory, extending their winning run and keeping them third in the race for the play-offs with six crucial league fixtures remaining.

Next up for Ashforth’s men is a Friday evening trip to Knaresborough Town, with a 7:45pm kick-off as the promotion push continues.