St Neots Town ended their wait for a first victory of the season in style yesterday.
Matt Clements’ men tasted success at the seventh attempt in all competitions when dishing out a 5-0 drubbing to Dorchester in a Southern League Premier Division clash at the Premier Plus Stadium.
Jonny Herd hit a ninth-minute opener for Saints and their task was made easier by the dismissal of visiting player Ollie Griggs on the stroke of half-time.
And the hosts made their numerical advantage count in style in the second period.
They sealed victory with two goals in three minutes as Scott Sinclair pounced on a rebound after a Dion Sembie-Ferris shot was saved, before the latter player found the net himself after a Herd long throw was flicked on by Taylor Parr.
Dylan Williams then got in on the goalscoring act with a brace – the second of which arrived courtesy of a penalty he earned himself.
Only a goal-line clearance in between those two goals denied him a quickfire hat-trick, but that was only a minor source of irritation at the end of a fine afternoon.
The victory came complete with a clean sheet for goalkeeping debutant Josh Tibbetts, who arrived on a youth loan from League One side Peterborough the previous day.
A first success of the campaign allowed St Neots to leapfrog local rivals St Ives Town in the Premier Division standings.
St Ives were beaten 3-2 at Basingstoke yesterday in a match settled by a late error from loan goalkeeper James Goff.
Saints trailed 2-0 before Jimmy Hartley halved their arrears a couple of minutes before half-time.
Ben Seymour-Shove levelled just after the hour mark and Saints looked the likelier winners in Hampshire until Goff allowed a low cross to squirm from his grasp and Basingstoke substitute Sam Deafield pounced for the winner.
It was a third successive Premier Division defeat for St Ives – and they have conceded three goals in each of them.
Both local sides are back in action on Tuesday. St Neots make the short trip to Biggleswade Town for an A1 derby clash while St Ives host a Kettering side who saw their 100 per cent start to the campaign ended at Weymouth yesterday.
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