Needham moved to fifth with a 4-1 win over Stourbridge.
Liam Pearce got in behind in the first minute, but dragged his cross-shot wide, as Watkiss' left wing cross was headed wide by Luke Ingram after quarter of an hour.
The Marketmen took the lead on 18 minutes, a corner was flicked on at the near post for Luke Ingram to control and volley home off the crossbar.
Watkiss' left wing cut-back found Liam Pearce whose shot hit the bar on 22 minutes, then Willis' shot in the 24th minute, from the edge of the area was saved well by James Bradbrook.
Verma crossed in for Wragg, who headed straight at Bradbrook on 25 minutes, with Watkiss cautioned.
Watkiss' 33rd minute deep cross found Ingram who headed straight at the keeper, the goalscorer then shot low from the edge of the area to draw a big save from the keeper a minute later.
Verma was booked for Stourbrdige on 36 minutes, with Marcel Lewis' free-kick deflected behind for a corner.
Pavey shot from the edge of box, albeit straight at Bradbrook five minutes before the break, then good control from Pearce in the area set up Marcel Lewis, whose shot was deflected behind by a good block.
Liam Pearce picked up the loose ball only for his curled shot to be saved, likewise with Hammond's rebound effort on.
Keiran Morphew was booked going into added time, while Willis also saw yellow for kicking the ball away at the half-time whistle.
Luke Ingram's shot straight from the second half kick-off went well over the bar, as Needham doubled theor lead on 54 minutes.
Lewis' cross back in from a corner is flicked across by K.Morphew, hitting Portman on its way in.
Hammond was cautioned on 58 minutes.
Tommy Smith replaced Watkiss in the 68th minute, while Liam Pearce was booked on 74 minutes.
Joe Neal returned from injury in place of Marcel Lewis two minutes later, as Ingram made way for Ollie Saunders with ten minutes remaining.
Needham extended their lead on 82 minutes, Ryan Miles broke into the box to shoot, the keeper made a good save but Miles tucks home the rebound!
Hammond went close two minutes later, breaking in behind but the keeper rushed out to save.
Needham added a fourth on 86 minutes, Neal was fed onto the byline to cutback for Kyle Hammond to turn home.
Stourbridge netted a consolation goal a minute later as Pavey swept home from a cross.
A comfortable win at home for Needham, who host Banbury United on Saturday.
Manager Tom Rothery concluded - I wouldn’t say comfortable, I think they’re a really good side they were the only team above us in the form league for the past 6 games. They started well and it took us 10-15 to really get going I thought once we got the first goal we were really good, their goalkeeper made a couple of outstanding saves to keep it at 1. They carried a threat throughout which I felt we dealt with well and when it went 2-0 and they tried to come at us a bit more we looked a real threat again and scored some further goals to put the game out of their reach.
I thought aside from the first 10-15 minutes we were really good in all aspects of the game.
Luke took his [goal] really well and we spoke about the set pieces at half time so to get the second was really pleasing, again big credit to the players and the third and the fourth similar to last week are just really good transitional goals which we’ve started to really nail down.
[Players returning] - It helps certainly as it showed again today to have Joe, Ollie and Tommy to bring on was a big reason as to why it finished as you suggested earlier comfortably but I could still only name 14 today so it’s still not an idea situation but James, Ben and the players have worked really hard in this past few weeks to get back on the grass which is big for us, so credit to them all especially Ben who’s put on some extra sessions to make that happen.
[Stamford Away being postponed] -Strangely I’d rather have had the game on, it was planned with time booked off work and we may have had at least one more back but from a positive perspective it gives me and the staff another week to get more detail and information into the players and more recovery time.
[Season so far] - Fairly happy, I think we are starting to do some really nice things in and out of possession. As always I think the lads are giving me everything and we are a tight bunch so they are always a pleasure to work with but I still think there’s more to come.
[Banbury at home] - Tough game as always, they’ve made a managerial change so they will be possibly different set up wise to previously but look it’s important as usual that we refocus, train hard and get ready for another tough game which will be the message from me to the players this coming week.
Ryan Miles' thought - Yeah really happy after today’s performance. We all wanted to put right Redditch last week so to show a good performance like that is good!
I think as a whole we are happy with today. We looked dangerous and pretty solid at the back for most parts of the game so that’s good to see. Really happy for Joe especially coming back from a period and effecting the game the way he did so overall today’s been good!
[Putting game to bed] - Yeah, 1-0 can always be a bit touch and go. So to be able to stick another 3 past them was definitely a positive and I think that now puts us as second highest scorers so long may it continue!
Happy to be back scoring and helping the team out where I can. After the last couple of games I wanted to make more of an impact which I felt I did.
[Feeling of scoring] - Just get it back on target and not to lash at it. To be fair the keeper made a decent save from my first effort and luckily the rebound fell to me perfectly so yeah just get it on target was all that was going through my head.
[Season so far] - Yeah really pleased, I think from a team point of view this is where we expect ourselves to be. We know we are good enough to give anyone a match and to be right up there, we just need to keep taking one game at a time and do the business. Personally been really happy too, I’ve said before after last year I knew I could play the level but my season being cut short was disappointing but this year my aim was to try show what I can do on a consistent basis.
[Banbury at home] - Hopefully so, we like to play at home I think results show that. As previous games though in the league it shows it doesn’t matter where you are in the league every game is tough and we just need to recover this week and hopefully carry on the league form.
Club news
UP TO FIFTH WITH STOURBRIDGE WIN
