Deadly Dom Lawless fired depleted Eynesbury into the quarter-finals of the Hinchingbrooke Cup in midweek.

The prolific Lawless hit a third hat-trick of a fine debut season for Rovers as they triumphed 4-2 at lower-level Raunds Town on Tuesday night.

Strangely, given they also operate a reserve side, Eynesbury only named 11 players for the game, but Mark Ducket’s weakened men soon took command thanks to a pair of Lawless penalties.

The first of them arrived in the second minute after fellow frontman Craig Smith was tripped in the box. Lawless earned and converted the second spot-kick himself to put the United Counties League Premier Division outfit on top.

But Rovers’ two-goal lead was wiped out before the break by their Division One hosts and they were dealt a further blow by the loss of Dan Draper to injury which meant they had to play the remainder of the contest with only 10 men.

But that didn’t stop them claiming victory thanks to a quick double-salvo just before the hour.

Nathan Westley put them back ahead when marking his full first-team debut with a goal (he also scored when making a first appearance as a substitute recently) before Lawless completed his latest treble with his 25th goal of the campaign.

Eynesbury will now host another Division One side, Potton, in the quarter-finals. Huntingdon Town go to Ely City at that stage of the competition.

There is still one first-round tie, involving Godmanchester Rovers, to be played. They visit Wisbech St Mary on December 13.

The winners of that clash will then travel to Deeping Rangers in the last eight. Rovers were recently knocked out of the FA Vase by Deeping.