Gary Setchell praised the strength in depth of his squad after King's Lynn Town took control of the United Counties Premier Division title race on Tuesday night.

The Linnets boss made three changes from the side that won at AFC Kempston Rovers on Saturday but it did little to halt Lynn's championship charge.

Dan Buhlemann, Ryan Fryatt and Rob Hughes all slotted in to great effect as table-topping Lynn hammered struggling Irchester United 5-0.

And in even better news for Setchell, title rivals Long Buckby slipped to a 3-1 defeat at home to Newport Pagnell Town to leave the destiny of the UCL title in his side's hands.

Setchell said: 'I made a few changes and if it had gone wrong I'd have got slaughtered.

'People would have said 'you should stick with a settled side'. However, I honestly believe with the squad we've got now, when we change three or four players, we're not changing the likelihood of winning.

'We've got 16 first-teamers. By putting Bully (Buhlemann) in and Hughesy (Hughes) straight in I don't think it affected our team one iota.

'Ryan's come in and he's developing all the time. He's a class player and he's going to be a real good centre-half. At 18, the composure he shows, his physique and the fact he doesn't get bullied by any striker, means I can get experience into him without causing detriment to our side.'

Goals from Jack Defty, Jason Turner, Ross Watson, Jamie Thurlbourne and Danny Beaumont secured Lynn's convincing win.

The victory means Lynn have opened up a 10-point gap over Buckby, who still have three games in hand.

Setchell admits his side's clean sheet, and the boost to their goal difference which leaves them 11 goals better off than Buckby, was as pleasing as his outfit's comfortable win.

'It was a pleasing victory. Some of the goals we scored were outstanding, but I think the performance was what made me happy,' said Setchell.

'I challenged the players to take the game away from Irchester and score early.

'Then I said when we got one to try and kick on and get two and three because you don't know what's going to happen – goal difference could be all important.

'I wanted a clean sheet. Away from home we've been fine, but at home we've given too many silly goals away and it's important that we start keeping more clean sheets. Especially with the run-in.

'We've got eight league games left, four at home and four away, and I think if we can keep five or six clean sheets we've got an outstanding chance of getting the points we need to win this league.'

The Linnets host Daventry United on Saturday before welcoming Peterborough Northern Star in the League Cup semi-final on Tuesday night (7.45pm).

Buckby entertain third-placed Holbeach United at the weekend and play one of their games in hand on Tuesday at struggling Thrapston Town.