Prestwich travelled to league leaders Thornleigh missing 4 or 5 players only to find their opponents to be in a similar position.
Prestwich started the game on the front foot and had a couple of early half chances but Thornleigh were also creating chances when they had the opportunity to break forward.
Prestwich started to dominate possession and after a period of pressure on the Thornleigh goal the ball fell to Darren Buckley on the edge of the box and his sweet strike took a deflection of a defenders back and sailed into the goal on 16 minutes.
Prestwich continued to press forward and 10 minutes later Sean Haslam was tripped on the edge of the box and up stepped Rick Walker to plant the free kick into the top corner. Thornleigh responded and put the Prestwich defence under some pressure without having a clear cut chance on goal.
Prestwich continued to play some incisive football and looked capable of scoring on every attack. The third goal came on 32 minutes when Steven Murty finished off a flowing move down the right between Peter Gallagher and Haslam whose pass across the box was expertly directed into the bottom corner.
Thornleigh pressed forward to try and get into the game and were unlucky from a corner when their centre half headed against the bar and Prestwich cleared the danger. They could also have had a penalty but the referee judged the challenge to be just outside the box. The half finished with Prestwich again pushing for a fourth.
The early exchanges in the second half belonged to Thornleigh as they pushed hard for a goal but Michael Hudson in the Prestwich goal had only one serious save to make as they missed the target with their limited opportunities.
With Thornleigh pressing forward there were spaces opening up in midfield and in the 60th minute a super move by Prestwich, moving the ball the width of the field, culminated in a cross the box by Walker to allow Gallagher to finish with ease.
Two minutes later another lightening raid by Prestwich saw Michael Neary’s speculative shot from the edge of the box sneak in at the near post after a mistake by the keeper.
On 70 minutes the impressive Buckley gave way to Dave Thompson who only 6 minutes later added his name to the score sheet with a thunderous strike from inside the box when he latched onto a loose ball.
Thornleigh got their one moment of consolation on 79 minutes when their centre forward finished a quick break which found the Prestwich defence short handed after committing too many players to attack. This jolted Prestwich from their temporary slumber and almost immediately they made it 7 when Walker broke down the left and finished with another powerful drive into the top corner.
But the best was kept to the last when another brilliant piece of play between 4 or 5 Prestwich players exchanging one touch passes carved open the Thornleigh defence on 85 minutes and Walker got in behind to slot home number 8 to complete the rout.
To their credit Thornleigh never gave up trying to score but Prestwich comfortably saw out the final minutes to leap over their opponents in the table.
Next week Prestwich are away to Castle Hill with a 2.30 KO at Castle Hill Centre BL2 2JW.
