Hat-trick hero Alfie Rutherford in great form for Dorking ahead of first reunion with Hawks on Boxing Day

Rutherford took his goals tally to nine in eight league and FA Trophy games with a hat-trick as Dorking Wanderers defeated National League South leaders Oxford City last night.

Oxford would have opened up a three-point gap at the top of the table with victory, but instead saw their 11-game unbeaten league run - stretching back to early September - ended with a 4-2 defeat.

City ended with 10 men after striker Harvey Bradbury - son of ex-Hawks boss Lee - was sent off on 70 minutes for a bad tackle.

Another ex-Hawk, Joe Iaciafano, grabbed his eighth NL South goal of 2021/22 from the penalty spot for Oxford.

Rutherford now has nine league goals - only St Albans’ Shaun Jeffers (16), Hungerford’s Ryan Seager (13) and Dartford’s Ade Azeez (10) have more.

Dorking moved up to seventh as a result, level on points with Hawks with both clubs having played 16 games. Hawks and Dorking are just four points adrift of Oxford with a game in hand in a hugely congested top half.

Wanderers handed a debut to dual-sportsman Dan Lincoln in goal last night. Formerly of Bognor Regis, Lincoln also made his County Cricket Championship debut for Kent last summer. He had previously appeared for Middlesex in the T20 Blast two years earlier.

The Portsmouth-born Rutherford, who started his career at Moneyfields, was Hawks’ top scorer during their one-season stay in the National League in 2018/19. His tally of 15 league goals from 25 starts plus 10 off the bench was 10 more than anyone else managed.

Despite that record, Rutherford found first team chances more limited in 2019/20 with boss Paul Doswell preferring to use two of his own signings, Jonah Ayunga and Danny Kedwell, up front.

Soon after that season was prematurely ended due to the pandemic, Rutherford joined Dorking. Due to the 2020/21 campaign also ending early, Hawks haven’t played Dorking since.

That means their Boxing Day clash in Surrey will be Rutherford’s first chance to play against Hawks since leaving Westleigh Park. The same applies to midfielder Josh Taylor, who left Hawks last summer.

Defender Ed Harris, another former Westleigh Park favourite, missed last night’s game through injury while former Hawks captain Wes Fogden is likely to miss the rest of the season through injury. A fifth ex-Hawk, striker Jason Prior, started alongside Rutherford last night.

Hawks and Dorking are meeting twice over the holiday period, with the return fixture in Hampshire taking place on January 2.

Hawks are inactive this weekend after being knocked out of the FA Trophy at the second round stage at Slough last month.

Dorking, though, have an intriguing Trophy tie at National Leaguers Southend United.

Rutherford scored both goals as Wanderers avoided a huge banana skin tie at Isthmian Premier table-toppers Worthing in the second round.