NON-LEAGUE FOOTBALL: The goals are flowing again for Huntingdon striker as Town aim to ‘embarrass’ top sides

Huntingdon boss Bob Warby hailed the character of striker Addie Staffieri after he doubled his goal tally for the season in recent days.

Staffieri hit a hat-trick as bottom side Town were held to a 4-4 draw by ON Chenecks at Jubilee Park last Saturday.

While Warby admitted it was a case of two United Counties League Premier Division points dropped, he was delighted by the display of his frontman.

Warby said: “Addie has understandably been suffering from a lack of confidence in recent weeks. He has gone through a dry spell, by his standards, even though we were creating chances as a team.

“We encouraged him not to focus on scoring, but to ensure his movement and work rate remained good. We felt his quality would inevitably shine through at some point and that has happened.

“I truly hope he kicks on from here as you would struggle to meet a nicer footballer, and it’s just a shame he didn’t end up on the winning side given the quality of his hat-trick.

“It is the second time this season we have scored four times in a game and not won it, which is disappointing.”

Staffieri saw a fifth-minute opener quickly cancelled out before he restored the advantage midway through the first period. Recent Lithuanian recruit Donatas Petrauskas then headed his first Town goal and Warby’s men maintained their cushion until the break.

The visitors halved their deficit seconds after the restart and levelled on 68 minutes, but Staffieri completed his treble five minutes later.

However, ON Chenecks came up with another response when tucking away a penalty contentiously awarded for a shirt pull which was initially committed outside the box.

Staffieri had also found the net last Tuesday when Town were spanked 8-1 at Wisbech – a night Warby described as his worst in football.

Huntingdon are back on home turf tonight (Wednesday, 7.45pm) when they entertain red-hot Deeping Rangers, a team who have won eight and drawn two of their last 10 Premier Division games.

Another home outing against highly-rated visitors - Holbeach - follows next Wednesday.

Warby added: “Deeping and Holbeach are not teams who feature in our ‘mini-league’ at the bottom end of the table so we can play them with no pressure.

“Both are frightening sides to face if we allow ourselves to be intimidated, but hopefully we can focus on our strengths, put in good performances and let Lady Luck take care of the rest.

“Just imagine how embarrassed both those sides will be if they lose to Huntingdon . . .”