PADIHAM bosses Liam Smith and Dixon Lambert hope to combine a winning team on the pitch with an increased profile off the field.

The Storks have pieced together a seven game unbeaten run in the Hallmark Security League Premier Division to climb into the top nine ahead of tomorrow’s home game with Hanley Town (3pm).

The management duo, who replaced long-serving boss Steve Wilkes at the end of August, have been pleased with recent performances but are keen to stress the importance of project Padiham rather than focussing solely on first team affairs.

“Our ambition is to create a community feel and a really good environment around the whole club,” said joint boss Smith.

“As an example of that, last Saturday we had Padiham Saints Under-7s coming along to the game as mascots and they really enjoyed the day, they were singing songs about the club and the players loved it.

“We had a really good crowd on last weekend for non-league day and hopefully we can get another one this weekend and give the town something they want to watch on the pitch as well as a club to be proud of.

“We’re really keen to get the players out in the community and doing school visits, that is something we really want to bring in.”

Lambert added: “What we want to do on the pitch is get a set of lads in who really want to be here, get some local talent and build a strong team spirit.

“Ever since we have come in the lads have been great.

“They have been fantastic in training and have a really good work ethic.

“People think there is a magic formula to winning football matches but there isn’t otherwise everyone would be doing it. We want our lads to work hard and they have really bought into what we want to do.”

While there may not be a magic formula, Dixon and Smith have certainly found a winning one with Monday night’s 3-1 win at Maine Road a fifth in seven games since the duo’s debut 6-1 loss at Runcorn Linnets.

“What has been really pleasing is that in the last seven games we have had three clean sheets and when we were 4-0 down to Linnets in our first game it was difficult to see where the next clean sheet was coming from,” added Smith.

“We know that we have to score goals because that is what successful teams do but we also want to have some structure and be compact and keep goals out at the other end.”

The Storks have boosted their squad with four new additions in the past seven days with Michael Morrison and Chris Anderson, from Colne and frontman Danny Boyle, from Barnoldswick, among them.

“We might have one more in before Saturday,” said Smith of Padiham’s recruitment.

“In those three players we have probably three of the best players in the division and I think there were a lot of glances at us locally that we were able to bring them in and attract them to Padiham.

“It is a statement of intent from us and we also have goalkeeper Dane Smith in on loan from Stockport County and he played really well on Monday night so we have a good squad at the moment.

“We just want to keep building on our winning mentality and keep that momentum and try and finish as high up this league as possible.”

Elsewhere in the Premier Division tomorrow, AFC Darwen entertain Bootle while Barnoldswick are on the road at Barnton.