Four hat-tricks in six Wessex League starts for Horndean goal machine Zack Willett

The pacy striker struck a first-half treble as the Deans completed an eight-day double over PO postcode rivals US Portsmouth.

A week on from winning 3-0 at the Victory Stadium, Horndean romped to a 5-0 home win that took their league tally to 101 in 29 fixtures.

Remarkably, it was Willett’s second first-half hat-trick in a row - having also struck three times in last Tuesday’s club record 10-0 destruction of Alresford.

Even more impressively, it was his FOURTH treble in his last six Wessex League starts - having previously netted three times against Bournemouth Poppies (8-0) and Cowes Sports (5-0).

In all, Willett now has 41 goals in all competitions and six hat-tricks to his name in 2022/23, having also scored three against Laverstock (4-1) and Cowes (8-0) in the first half of the campaign.

Tommy Scutt - who scored a diving header from a Willett cross - and Tommy Tierney also netted against USP as Horndean took their Wessex goal tally to 39 in their last nine games. During the same period they have only shipped four, and three of those were in a 5-3 win at Shaftesbury.

Michael Birmingham’s men are now just seven points behind leaders Portchester with two games in hand - and the teams meet at Portchy next month.

‘The boys did well, it was a good professional performance,’ Birmingham told The News.

‘It was important we took the game to them.

‘We started off a bit slowly, trying to over play in certain areas – but that might have been due to the state of the pitch.

‘We had an early morning pitch inspection. It was playable but if we’d had any more rain it would have been 100 per cent off.’

The top four teams in the Wessex Premier are now separated by just seven points, with a fascinating final few weeks of the season guaranteed.

‘It’s a four-horse race,’ said Birmingham. ‘We’re in good form but so are Stoneham, so are Bemerton. It’s not just about Horndean.

‘It doesn’t matter to me what Portchester do, what Stoneham do, what Bemerton do. All I care about is what Horndean do.

‘The biggest match of the season now for me is our home game against Brockenhurst next Saturday.

‘I’d say it’s still Portchester’s to lose. They have got the points on the board and I’m sure they wouldn’t swap their position with anyone else, irrespective of yesterday.’

Scutt was forced off at half-time against USP with a tight calf, with Sam Hookey coming on in his place.

Willett was also taken off at the interval, to be replaced by Connor Duffin.

Another sub, Tierney, rounded off the scoring with the only goal of the second half - following a swift counter-attack from a USP corner.