UNITED ENJOY A FESTIVE FEAST
HAYES & Yeading United turned up the heat on their rivals as they scored a hatful over the Christmas period.
The Isthmian League South Central Division table-toppers thumped Bedfont Sports 6-0 pre-Christmas, maintaining their 100% home league record.
This was followed by a club record equalling 9-1 away win at Hanwell Town on Saturday. A hat-trick for Lee Barney, two goals each for new signing Elliot Benyon and Duncan Culley and one apiece for Josh Chamberlain and Scott Bridges put United two points clear at the top, with three games in hand over the majority of their rivals and with a plus 53 goal difference.
The latest win took their December tally to 34 goals for in all competitions in December and 13 against in seven games, losing only once, to Brackley Town, who are two divisions higher, in the FA Trophy.
United are back at home in the league on Saturday with the visit of strugglers Molesey before a trip to Chipstead on Tuesday January 8.
“To end the year with a result like that [9-1] is very satisfying,” said Hayes boss Paul Hughes. “You could see what it meant to the players. You could see what it meant to the fans, and it obviously means a lot to all involved in the football club.
“Although there are things that I wasn’t happy with and we still need to work on, it isn’t actually easy to be as devastating to the opposition as we have been.
“It takes a strong, cohesive team unit. It was nice that our forwards got goals – Barney a hat-trick, Elliot with his first back in club colours, Josh playing off the front two and Culley coming off the bench – but what is perhaps more pleasing is that we are scoring goals from all areas of the team and probably should have had a lot more too.
“We are creating chances as part of our natural flow and that’s the reason we are scoring so many goals. Even the best defenders can’t defend against that forever.
“We won’t get carried away though. We’ve actually only played 16 out of our 38 game league campaign, so there’s much more football to come, heavier pitches and no doubt player availability issues.
“We need to stay focused, play our own game and cut out the negative aspects of our game. 2018 has been a good year for this football club, but we need to ensure 2019 is a great year.”