PICKERING Town will be thankful to return to home soil this weekend after Rossington Main condemned them to a third consecutive away defeat.

The Pikes' rotten NCEL Premier Division form continued, with a 4-1 loss in South Yorkshire following 5-2 and 6-2 defeats at Handsworth and Penistone Church over the last month.

All the damage had been done for Tony Hackworth's side inside the opening 52 minutes, with Ben Silburn’s first goal for the club shortly after the hour nothing more than a mere consolation.

After their bright start to the campaign, they now sit 12th ahead of a tough test against Campion – one point behind but having played three games less – at Mill Lane on Saturday (3pm).

Pickering again fell behind early on, with Cameron Hough pouncing from close range to break the deadlock in the 12th minute after a corner had been spilled by Sam Taylor.

But the visitors came within a whisker of an immediate response, with George Harrison’s looping shot beating former Pickering goalkeeper Leigh Overton only to cannon back off the post.

Rossington though saw the better of the chances, with Lewis Graham firing narrowly wide before they doubled their lead on the stroke of half time.

Cody Prior’s corner was played back in by Brad Grayson, with Manasse Kianga then giving Taylor no chance with a well-struck half-volley into the bottom right corner.

The Pikes remained on the back foot after the break, and it wasn’t long until they fell further behind, Kianga cutting inside and beating three visiting defenders before squaring for former Grimsby Town striker Ross Hannah to tap in at the far post.

And just three minutes later the hosts had their fourth, Kianga completing his brace having stormed past two would-be tackles and again firing past Taylor into the bottom right corner.

Pickering though did manage a consolation just after the hour, substitute Silburn opening his account for the Ryedale club in fine fashion after lifting the ball over Overton, despite a hint of offside.

Rossington did have the ball in the back of the net for a fifth time with 10 minutes left to play, but the visitors were spared by the offside flag on another afternoon to forget in South Yorkshire.