Ollie bags first hat-trick as Stags hit Hurst for six

STEVE BAYES 0 6

ROSSENDALE’S penultimate away game saw the Stags make the short trip to play Hurst Green looking to keep their recent winning run going.

And keep it going they did in fine style with a 6-0 mauling of their hosts. A welcome return to the bench and making a rare appearance was Mickey Saunders

Playing against a very strong wind in the first half Rossendale were soon into their stride and they took the lead after five minutes when Joe Haworth played the ball up the left touch line, where Teal Amos picked up the ball and made progress to the by-line and a superb cross evaded the defenders and landed with Ollie Williams at the back post who fired home to give the Stags the early advantage.

Hurst Green were using the wind with high balls forward and on the half hour mark the big forward controlled the ball and with keeper Jones out of the goal he missed the open goal.

Straight after, another attack from Hurst Green saw a striker one on one with keeper Jones who made a super point blank save.

Rossendale were causing problems of their own going forward but couldn’t find that second goal.

However, with half time approaching a corner from the left wasn’t cleared, the ball pinging about in the six-yard box before Reagan O’Brien fired home.

In the second half Rossendale made chances to shoot at goal but they seemed to refuse them, and Hurst Green for a time were the better of the two teams.

They had the ball in the net on 52 minutes only for the scorer to be deemed offside.

On 70 minutes came the killer goal.

Joe Haworth made a run up the left and his cross found Scott Wylie who buried the ball into the far corner.

Rossendale forced corner after corner going into a bizarre final 10 minutes. On 81 minutes a Wylie corner from the left saw Ollie Williams with his back to goal jump up and back heel the ball into the net.

A minute later it was Williams again who beat the offside trap to score his hat-trick goal, but his joy was short lived as the linesman wrongly flagged him offside.

Wylie was outraged at the decision and complained strongly to the referee, who sent Wylie to finish the game in the sin bin.

Some poor tackles from the Hurst Green players brought needless free kicks, and one poor tackle on 88 minutes was in the area with the referee pointing to the spot. There was only one man going to take the spot kick, up stepped Ollie Williams who made this one count for his hat-trick as he buried the spot kick to make it 5-0.

There was still time for Simon Nangle to pop up in the area on 90 minutes, rob a defender of the ball and plant it in the net to complete the rout.

A very clinical performance from the Stags in very difficult windy conditions on a soft pitch brought another three welcome points. With six games left and five of them at home a top five finish is looking more and more likely.

Assistant manager Johnny Heap said: “Very pleased with that result, I think that makes it nine wins out of the last ten games now, so we are in unbelievable form at the moment and there’s a real belief in the dressing room come matchdays that we can beat anybody. I think the most pleasing thing is that togetherness now in there, in reality we aren’t playing for a title or a cup and a lot of teams would probably take their foot off the gas, but these lads are wanting that win and have real determination every time they go out on the pitch.

“Today’s game was tough with the pitch being soft and the wind was just blowing in every direction possible, but we dispatched Hurst Green quite ruthlessly. They tried to kick us off the pitch, but teams need to realise that doesn’t work with these lads, it actually makes them work harder and in reality we could’ve scored a lot more goals.

“We were really happy for Ollie Williams who got his first hat-trick in senior football and probably his last I might add, but he’s a great example of what we want to do at this club. He’s come through the youth system and when I had him in the reserves for a couple of seasons he was one of those lads that you could tell had the steel in him to accelerate into the first team very quickly. This season myself, Scott amd Simon all agreed he’d be a big player and needed to be given that chance and he’s been superb. He’s a proper Rossendale player and right now he’s getting on the scoresheet regularly for us, but more importantly he’s integral to keeping the back door shut and giving the team a platform to build on.”

Rossendale return to Marl Pits on Saturday for a match against third place Fulwood Amateurs, kick off at 3pm.