DELIGHTED New Milton boss Glenn Burnett watched his men thrash Newport IOW but warned they still had work to do to avoid relegation.

In-form Linnets beat the cold snap to move 10 points clear of the Wessex League’s bottom two with their fourth win in five league matches after a rip-roaring start at Fawcett’s Field.

Alex Baldacchino netted from an acute angle after six minutes and doubled the home side’s advantage after a clever one-two with Marc Holland moments later.

Iain Seabrook pulled one back for Newport but Holland’s snap shot restored the two-goal cushion, making it 3-1 after just 20 minutes.

Chances came and went for both teams before the break, but Baldacchino, dubbed ‘Super Al’ by his team-mates, was on hand to complete his hat-trick in the second half before Darren Curtis grabbed a fifth late on.

Seabrook added a second for the visitors, but it was scant consolation and Linnets manager Burnett felt his side were worthy winners: He told the Daily Echo: “I thought for the majority of the game we played the better football and dominated.

“We might be down the bottom but, in my eyes, we have a top-five squad here and we’re proving that with our league form.

“Sometimes, we overplay a little bit with all the tricks and flicks, but I don’t really want to stop it because the changing room is brilliant at the moment.

“But I don’t think we are safe yet and we will not change anything we are doing, or our approach, until we know that we are safe.”

Burnett took over in late September with Linnets rooted to the bottom of the Wessex Premier without a point from their opening six games.

He added: “There is a brilliant togetherness and I have always said money is nothing, it is about what you get from your dressing room. At the moment, they will run through walls for us so it is quite easy.

“When you have got that winning mentality, you just keep putting them on the pitch to try to get three points. Teams are coming here now knowing they are not going to take three points easily, and we saw that on Saturday.”

Linnets: Rowe, Davies (Barge, 79), Stuart, Holland (Proctor, 83), Curtis, Case, Gilkes, Tanner, Baldacchino, Moth (Donaldson, 69), Preston. Unused sub: Morris.