JEKYLL and Hyde Pickering Town have designs on pushing up the Northern Counties East League premier division tomorrow.

The Pikes showed the best and worst of their abilities as they beat Nostell Miners Welfare 5-2 at the Recreation Ground on Tuesday night and follow up their up-and-down display with a trip to Thackley tomorrow.

Marshall branded their first 45 minutes against Nostell as "probably the worst half of football I've seen".

They trailed 2-0 after five minutes when Devonte Morton and Will Wells netted for Nostell and were happy to still be in the game at the break following a spectacular goal from Lewis Taylor.

But they turned on the style in the second period, with a Joe Danby brace and goals from Ged Dalton and Mitch Hamilton securing three points.

Marshall said of the performance: "Everyone made mistakes and it was awful.

"I've seen some bad halves but this was one of the worst. It starts in the first minute when (goalkeeper) Toby Wells kicks it against a defender and it loops 25 yards over his head and into the corner.

"The second went in on five minutes and they had three one-on-ones, which were saved. We could have been five down at half-time. It was an embarrassing first half.

"Lewis Taylor got a worldy from 40 yards after about 30 minutes and it was the one saving grace. It was straight into the top corner and it gave us a glimmer of hope.

"We should have been out of sight, we weren't and that was the half-time message - that we were so lucky to be only 2-1 down.

"We were absolutely brilliant in the second half. Nostell tired quite badly and we had two brilliant strikes from Joe Danby and Ged Dalton also scored a header."

Marshall had signed Hamilton, the former Ossett Albion and Knaresborough Town forward that was with the Pikes chief at Tadcaster last year, prior to the game and hailed his impact.

"We gave him a spin on the bench and he came on ten minutes before half-time when Nathan Kamara got injured," he explained.

"It started to liven up. He's only 5ft 8in but he roughed up two big centre-halves and he was the difference."

With the weather having severely affected the NCEL programme over the past few weeks, Marshall was unsure whether the Thackley game would even take place - but he said his team had to be ready.

He insisted: "We have got to be prepared. It will be tough away from home. They have won the last two home games and they are not a bad team. Every time we have played them, we have had these hard, tough, games."

A win could see the tenth placed Pikes move further up the premier division ladder and Marshall believes the season is in for a thrilling climax.

"There's not an outstanding team in the league this year," he said. "Everyone can beat each other and only three or four points separate the top five or six.

"It is going to go to the wire and will be an interesting run in."