LIAM McDonald watched his Redditch United side dent Cambridge City’s Calor Southern League title hopes – but said he isn’t getting carried away.

Jermaine Hylton’s hat-trick, plus a goal on his debut from full-back Ben Birch, sealed a 4-1 win which avenged defeat by the same scoreline at the Glass World Stadium last December.

McDonald has said throughout the season that his young, attacking side are a match for the best on their day and he now has ample evidence to back those claims.

“It’s up there with our best performances since I took over as manager,”

he said. “Obviously with how good Cambridge are makes it a very good result.

“The belief is there and we’ve been waiting for a performance like that. It’s another really good scalp for us after our win against Bideford.

For much of the season it has been Reds’ forwards who have grabbed the headlines but McDonald said the win was as much built on what they did at the back.

““Defensively, we are better collectively and week in, week out we are improving and putting down foundations for the future.

“It’s a bonus for me that players are playing well enough to pick themselves every week now which means we have a more settled side.

“Normally it’s how we perform offensively that dictates the game but we had to keep Adam Marriott and Kelvin Bossman quiet and I thought Jacko (Nathan Jackson) and Jim (James Mutton) were outstanding in doing that.

“And I was delighted with Ben Birch on his debut after being thrown into such a high profile game against a side like Cambridge.”

United now face a testing trip to muchimproved Corby Town on Saturday and then entertain St Neots Town, which follows a league cup clash with Kettering Town due to be played last night (Tuesday – see online for full report).

McDonald is keen to continue where they left off on Saturday and secure a third successive league win.

“We will go there with confidence high and it would be fantastic to win at Corby.

They are below us in the league but are on a good run.

“We have to stay focused and if we can pick up points over the next week or so it sets us up nicely for February.

“No disrespects to the teams we play but they are teams below us and teams we have beaten at home and away this season – it’s a big month for us.”