A dominant first half which featured goals from Keegan Warrington and Fenton Cavanagh did the trick for Glyn Norman’s team, as they followed up last weekend’s 2-0 victory in the storm at AFC Knowsley.

The Cammells were on the front foot from the start in brighter conditions against Maine Road, and took a deserved lead after nine minutes when Joe Downey played a sublime ball through for Warrington to net his second goal in the first two appearances for the club.

Lairds continued to push, and got their second goal on 22 minutes when Ben Wood did well to win the first header from Downey’s free kick and Cavanagh rifled a volley into the net. The first half was almost all Lairds and had them in control at the break.

However, 10 minutes after the restart Maine Road found a route back into the match when a short back pass was latched onto by Siraj Hussein for a simple finish.

Some superb last-ditch defending was required to keep Maine Road at bay during a scramble midway through the half as they pushed hard for an equaliser, but Lairds had a glorious opportunity for a more comfortable ending to the game when Downey played another wonderful pass through for Wood, who was upended by visiting goalkeeper Liam Sergent for a penalty. Wood took the spot kick, but it was well saved by Sergent.

Lairds did see out the match, and this victory put them top of the table, albeit with sides below having games in hand.

Next up for the Cammells is another home game against Holker Old Boys next Saturday (7 November).