HERO ORSI SPARKES A BALL WAR!
DANILO ORSI joked he didn’t want to share the match ball with teammate Dan Sparkes after Maidenhead United went goal crazy at Wealdstone.
Orsi smashed a superb seven-minute hat-trick – his first in senior football – while Sparkes added two in four minutes late on as the rampant Magpies put six past the stunned Stones with no reply at Grosvenor Vale.
And Orsi, who now has 14 league goals to his name this season, admits it only helps stoke up a friendly rivalry at the York Road club – and boost confidence ahead of an unlikely late push for a playoff place.
“It’s my first senior hattrick so, on a personal note, it’s a night I won’t forget.” the 25-year-old former Hampton & Richmond striker said.
“I’ve been giving Sparkesy a bit of stick recently so for him to get two was great. I thought he was going to get a hat-trick at the end there so I was telling the gaffer [Alan Devonshire] ‘Take him off, take him off’ as I wanted the match ball!
“But it’s great…to see Sammy [Sam Barratt] back in the goals again, Sparkesy get two – we got goals from all of the front three. But the main thing though was the team performance. First half, I don’t think we were great, but the second half we showed what we can do when we pull in the same direction.
“We knew when we went to Stockport [last Saturday] and got a point there – and again in training yesterday – you could see that confidence was good. Hopefully now we can start a little run like we did in November time.”
Relentless
Barratt opened the scoring for the Magpies on 34 minutes but it took another half an hour before Orsi doubled the advantage, sparking a storming late rally.
He added further goals on 69 and 71 minutes to complete a quickfire hat-trick before Sparkes compounded Wealdstone’s woe with a brace in the final nine minutes.
Elsewhere, Gary Johnson hailed his Torquay United side after they moved level on points with second-placed Sutton with a 2-0 away win at Woking. Two goals in a minute inside the opening quarter of an hour from Scott Boden and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans proved enough to seal a comfortable victory – leaving Johnson full of praise for his title-chasing Gulls.
“I’m obviously delighted with the result because it was a little bit of a banana skin waiting to happen, because of the respective positions in the league” he said.
“I thought the boys were magnificent in the first half, we created lots of chances, we were relentless in their box. Their keeper made a few unbelievable saves, and it could have been three or four in the first half.
“It’s our local rivals, if you like, and it’s put us in a nice position, because you can look at these type of games and think ‘that’s three points’. Well, you’ve got to go and earn them, and I thought our lads – especially in the first half – earned those three points, so credit to them.”
The other big winners of the night were FC Halifax Town, who moved into fifth with a fine 2-1 away win at
Chesterfield, subjecting their promotion rivals to a second straight home defeat.
Jeff King and Jake Hyde both struck inside the opening half an hour before Kairo Mitchell’s first goal in a Chesterfield shirt on 71 minutes set up a tense finale.
Aldershot Town and
King’s Lynn Town shared a 1-1 draw at the EBB Stadium with Ricky Miller’s opener for the hosts cancelled out by Michael Gash’s equaliser, while Barnet’s revival under Simon Bassey continued as they held play-off chasing
Boreham Wood to a goalless draw on the road – Wood’s 16th league draw of the season.