Kinniburgh pleased with the strength of his Steelmen squad

The Steelmen remain right in the hunt for honours in the Evo-Stik League South Premier Division One Central as they trail new leaders Bromsgrove Sporting by seven points with three games in hand.

Bromsgrove beat previous leaders Peterborough Sports 2-1 in the big game of the day but the Steelmen, boosted by a crop of new signings, maintained their own challenge on the road.

Steve Diggin marked his return to the club by opening the scoring while Northampton Town youngsters Cameron McWilliams and Jack Newell were both included in the starting line-up.

The new arrivals came after Kinniburgh was given the backing by the club’s board to strengthen his squad for the final push.

And the Steelmen boss said: “We have come away from home and won 3-1.

“If you are going to be in the hunt at the top of the league, you have to make sure that you do a job away from home.

“Before this game, four of our next five were away from home and we need to make sure we are performing and we are consistent in our performance. And in this one, I thought we were professional and scored good goals.

“My conversation with the board was about this period that we are now in and about being able to give it a go.

“We needed bodies to do that because 11 players wouldn’t be enough to get through that five games.

“We have options now. We have a squad fighting for positions and that’s what you want as a manager.”

Joel Carta and top scorer Elliot Sandy, who scored from the penalty spot, added the other goals for the Steelmen.

But Kinniburgh was keen to pile the praise on the new boys with Diggin, McWilliams and Newell all impressing for Corby.

“He (Diggin) has obviously been at the club before and had a decent spell here so when I went into discussions with him during the week, it was something that we were both really happy and delighted to do,” the Corby manager added.

“I think he was as happy to come back to Corby as I was to get him in and in the first half you could see why we have done it.

“He made it a good cross with his movement off the ball and it was a really composed finish over the goalkeeper where most strikers would have tried to blast it.

“His work-rate alongside Elliot up top was a really good start for him. He has come back in and got his goal and long may that continue.

“And I thought the two young lads were great.

“When you consider the age of them and the experience that they have not quite gained yet at adult level, I thought the two of them came in and looked so assured of themselves.

“They read the game well, they got involved and were looking for the ball.

“Jack has slotted in there to replace one of our better players this season in Connor Kennedy and he did really well alongside Joel (Carta).

“Cameron started at right-back and moved to left-back and showed how versatile he is. He was as good on either side.”

Corby play the first of their games in hand on Bromsgrove when they head to Welwyn Garden City on Tuesday night before hosting Sports in a huge top-of-the-table clash at Steel Park next weekend.