Football
Christmas cheer for buoyant Earls

Earlswood Town 6 Pilkington XXX 0

Midland Combination Premier Division

REECE Hewitt’s hat-trick helped provide Earlswood with plenty of festive cheer as they eased to victory against high-flying Pilkington.

It was Pilkington, looking for three points to move them second in the table, who settled first but Earls kept them at bay.

Lewis Cosgrove headed wide at the other end before Pilkington went on the front foot again and were only denied by the bar.

Earls got their noses ahead in the tenth minute though when Hewitt converted a far post cross before he fired home from the spot two minutes later after Django Farrell had been upended in the box.

The referee awarded Earls another penalty three minutes later when Andy Rowe was fouled and Hewitt again made no mistake in converting.

Pilkington created a number of chances throughout the first half but were unable to find a way to get back into the contest.

Earlswood soon went on the offensive again at the start of the second half but had to wait until the 70th minute to extend their lead when substitute John Evans forced a hurried clearance which fell to Hewitt to drive home from outside the area.

Farrell completed the scoring with two late goals as Earls moved three places up the table to 11th ahead of Saturday’s trip to Brocton (1pm).

A SUCCESSFUL day for the club was completed by the Reserves winning 2-0 at home against Cadbury Athletic Reserves.

Kyle Turner slotted home Robbie Hadry’s cross to make it 1-0 in the 14th minute and Dave Grant sealed the victory two minutes from time when lobbing home from a corner.