Aldershot & Farnham 5, Southampton 3

SCOTT Perry scored four goals in Aldershot and Farnham’s victory over Southampton in Hampshire/Surrey 2.

The visitors had come from 3-0 down at half time to draw level before A&F re-asserted their dominance to take all three points and make it 12 wins out of 12 as their impressive quest for promotion continues.

A&F were unhappy that Southampton were allowed back into the game. A harsh decision to award a penalty flick against Ewan Hammond saw Southampton get their first goal as their centre back stepped up and put it away via the crossbar.

Southampton got their second with a tap-in at the far post but Perry would have quite easily collected and cleared the ball from the circle prior to this had he not quite clearly had his stick held back by another Southampton forward.

With the momentum, Southampton got the equaliser with a well-placed short corner into the bottom corner.

A&F realised they needed to get back to playing at their tempo and it had immediate results. Phil Rushmere fed the ball into Ian Metcalfe in the circle, but with the Southampton defender standing on his stick as he controlled and attempted to score, a penalty flick was awarded.

Perry put the flick away to record his hat-trick and regain the lead for A&F.

Aaron Buchanan then slipped at the vital moment with a glorious chance to make it 5-3. However, the comfort level of a two-goal cushion was restored when Perry drag-flicked a short corner into the net following a foul on Stuart Morhall.

In the first half, things were much more comfortable for A&F with an effective press seeing them regularly regain possession.

They should have taken the lead early on when Andrew Simmons did all the hard work and rounded the goalkeeper only to put his effort across goal, even then Metcalfe should have tapped in but lost his balance as the ball dribbled agonisingly wide.

The pair made amends moments later though. With a free-hit outside the 22, Ian Jennings picked out Metcalfe posting up to the right of the circle. His first-time square lay-off was straight into the path of Simmons arriving to sweep into the net.

Perry scored the second goal with a mazy dribble in the D and precise finish into the bottom corner, and the third with a drag-flicked short corner.

A&F’s attacks were mounted through their two screens, dovetailing each other nicely – Jennings with his killer balls and wide passing range and Chris Boot with his drives forward. Robbie Edwards also had a fine game at left back, doing excellently to work the ball out of that tricky area.

A&F: MacDonald, Hammond, Weston, Edwards, Boot, Jennings, Perry, P Rushmere, Simmons, Morhall, Metcalfe, Bockett-Pugh, Buchanan.