TREBLE JOY FOR HARDY

LIAM Hardy bagged his second festive hattrick as Buxton wrapped up the points within half an hour.

The Bucks went ahead straight from the kick-off as Exodus Geohaghon lost the ball allowing Joe McGee to skip down the left and cross for unmarked hit-man Hardy to crack home from ten yards with just 18 seconds on the clock.

John McAtee was Halesowen's main danger on his last scheduled loan game from Shrewsbury and his second-minute shot was turned away for a corner before his next effort was collected by Buxton goalkeeper Jan Budtz.

But the Bucks continued to look far more potent going forwards as Hardy was put through to fire wide after 15 minutes and then blasted high following Asa Charlton’s 22nd minute slip in a shaky home defence.

Hardy soon got the better of Geohaghon to double Buxton’s lead by beating goalkeeper Dan Platt with a delightfully deft 29th minute finish off the inside of the post against a slow Yeltz defence. Just a minute later, Hardy completed his third hat-trick of the season with his 27th goal of the campaign after Kyle Morrison failed to clear and Hardy confidently hit home across goalkeeper Platt to establish a dominant 3-0 lead.

The Yeltz pulled a goal back after 36 minutes when McAtee burst down theleft on a breakaway and he crossed for Enock Ekongo to control and squeeze his shot through the legs of defender Matt Baker and underneath goalkeeper Budtz.

There was plenty of effort from the hosts in the second period, but the incisive quality was lacking and Buxton were in no mood to let their lead slip.

McGee was denied in a 54th minute goalmouth scramble for the Bucks and Hardy and McGee continued to cause problems as they combined after an hour.

For the Yeltz, McAtee curled a 20-yard free-kick over the bar in the 71st minute. Sam Smith almost nipped in to beat home goalkeeper Platt with 12 minutes remaining and Smith was just off target again two minutes from time. But Hardy’s firsthalf brilliance had already sealed all three points and the visitors were happy to soak up Halesowen’s late possession without Budtz being troubled. Buxton now sit eighth in the league table, with Halesowen languishing above the drop zone with 24 points to their name.