Callum Laycock hits hat-trick as Moneyfields romp to victory in first ‘home’ game of the season – in Bournemouth!

The striker took his seasonal tally to 17 as Moneys thrashed Bournemouth Poppies 5-0.

But even though the game was played at Poppies’ Victoria Park HQ, it counted as Moneys’ opening home fixture of the campaign.

That means they will have to make a third seasonal trip to the venue after Christmas.

On their first visit in August, Glenn Turnbull watched his Moneys side thumped 5-0 in a Hampshire Senior Cup tie.

At the weekend, he named just four players in the starting XI who had also started the HSC drubbing - and saw the August scoreline reversed.

Laycock was one of those four starters, along with Jack Chandler, Josh Hazell and Callum Glen.

Laycock headed Moneys in front inside five minutes from a Chad Cornwell cross, before Dec Seiden converted a penalty after he had been pushed over.

Laycock added a second and squandered the chance of a first-half treble with a heavy touch after being put clear.

Remarkably, that would have been Laycock’s second first-half Wessex treble at Victoria Park in 2022 – having scored one last March as part of his stellar run of three hat-tricks in as many league games while playing for AFC Stoneham.

Jack Lee headed in a Hazell cross for 4-0 in the second half before Laycock completed his second hat-trick of the season - after previously scoring all five in a 5-0 FA Cup win at Bemerton in early August.

‘It’s nice to have a 100 per cent home record!’ quipped Turnbull after his side’s seventh win in their last nine Wessex fixtures.

‘It was a boggy, heavy pitch. When we got there there was a lady walking her dog on the pitch, so to win 5-0 was really pleasing. We’d have settled for a 1-0 win beforehand.’

Due to the John Jenkins Stadium development going over schedule, Moneys have agreed to play their 18 remaining Wessex home games at Hawks’ Westleigh Park.

Most of those games will be held on Friday evenings, starting with Blackfield & Langley’s visit this week.

‘It’s the best case scenario I could have asked for apart from the John Jenkins Stadium being completed,’ he remarked.

‘It’s the same surface that we’re going to have, and it’s at a League 2 standard facility.

‘It would be naive to say we’re not happy with it, and we know we will have the assurance that games will go ahead (being an artificial surface).’

Turnbull confessed he had been getting ‘a bit twitchy’ and was ‘fearful of repercussions’ had Moneys not sorted out a groundshare arrangement.

Moneys chairman Pete Seiden, meanwhile, has praised Turnbull and his squad for their attitude during four months of constant travelling - the first team having played 22 successive away games in 2022/23 so far.

‘I have to give a lot of credit to Glenn and his management team, they haven’t grumbled,’ he said. ‘The players haven’t mentioned it, and I’ve spoken to most of them. The whole club has pulled together.’

Striker Steve Hutchings is expected to return to the squad for Blackfield’s visit for the first game under the Westleigh Park lights. And midfielder Harry Sargeant - suspended for the trip to Poppies after being sent off at Hythe & Dibden - is also available again.