LUCTONIANS Head Coach Ryan Watkins commended the ruthlessness of his side as they moved out of the bottom three in the National League Two North following a 29-3 win over Preston Grasshoppers.

Relegation rivals Preston proved a threat early in the tie and pinned their hosts back.

However, Seb Robinson put Watkins' side ahead after 10 minutes following good work by Aiden Cheshire.

Despite Preston replying through a Ben Dorrington penalty Louis Silver was on hand at the other end to kick his side into a 10-3 lead.

Following quick work by Luctonians John Morris ran over a second try to give his side a 15-3 half-time lead.

Preston were determined to find a route back into the game but were met by a wall of black and white shirts.

Clinical in attack Rob Crowley on the blind side slid into the corner for a third try on 54 minutes.

Guy Kirkby then secured the bonus point by crashing home a fourth try to seal the victory.

"It was a good weekend for us, we are playing well and it's good to get a couple of wins on the bounce now," said Watkins.

"We had to defend a hell of a lot and they came at us from the start. They were in our half and we just managed to keep them out. In fact every time we got in their half we scored.

"They (Preston) kept the ball well and didn't give up but we were just very clinical and defensively good to stop them scoring and keep them to three points.

"They still proved persistent but we kept them out."

The win was Luctonians second in as many matches and took them seven points above second from bottom Preston.

This weekend Lucs have the chance to move further up the table when they travel to a Wharfedale side who sit just a point above them.

Watkins felt his side stuck together after going 10 games without a win prior to the last two weekends.

Watkins added: "To be honest I never felt that we were in trouble as we knew we had a tough start down to the fixtures we had.

"We were consistently improving every week and eventually got them wins. We stuck together well as a group and the support was good.

"The boys didn't get at each other about mistakes and were good as a team.

"We will concentrate on the bits of the game we are doing well,

"Our defence is hard to break and we are taking our chances, we will focus on that."