Somerset County Division Two West

Highbridge Town 6-1 Burnham United Reserves

MATT Scott returned to haunt his former club as he scored a second-half hat-trick to fire Highbridge Town to a convincing victory over ten-man Burnham United Reserves.

Town scored five times in an action-packed second period, which also saw Burnham United’s goalkeeper sent off.

Chris Taylor, Kane Powell and Jack Hirons were also on target for the hosts as they cruised past their local rivals – much to the delight of manager Matt Pitt.

“I thought we were going through the motions a bit in the first-half and it really did not feel like a derby,” he said.

“But after the break we really opened them up out wide and this gave Taylor, Bailey and Powell licence to hurt them.

“Every player impressed me in the second-half as we did not give them a single sniff and were far too much for such a young side.

“We now move onto the remaining few games of the season and we want to keep this momentum going after three wins on the bounce and look forward to our well deserved semi final tie on April 11 away at Winscombe.”

Burnham United manager Oliver Taylor said he was’ disappointed’ with the sending off, but pleased with his side’s performance despite the result.

He said: “I’m very pleased with how my team played, especially in the first half after conceding to such an early goal.

“I’m disappointed in our sending off, which obviously didn’t help our cause.

“Highbridge have built a good strong side and used the extra man well and deserved the win.

The game started out with Town taking an early lead, when a Chris Taylor corner was fired into the Burnham area and ball ended up going straight in.

In a game where no team took real control United levelled the scores after a scramble in the box.

into the second-half, Matt Scott found himself through on goal only to be hauled down by the Burnham keeper, who earned himself a yellow in the process - and while Scott himself was preparing to take the spot-kick, the Burnham keeper received a second yellow for dissent and was shown a red card.

The first thing the new keeper had to do was pick the ball out of the net, with Scott dispatching his penalty into the top corner.

Town were soon pegged back when they conceded their third penalty in three games with a rash challenge from Stuart Walford, but Steve Bailey in the Highbridge goal pulled off a fine save to his right to keep Town in the lead.

That penalty miss would come back to bite Burnham, with Town’s midfield really taking control of the game.

Scott bagged his second of the afternoon to put Town 3-1 up and Kane Powell then added the fourth with a close range finish - Jack Hirons then got on the score sheet to make it 5-1.

Matt Scott then rounded off his hat-trick with a lovely lob after a fine through ball from young Morgan Sealey.