Lucas nets first half hat-trick as Town Under-13s down Dawlish
- Credit: Archant
Exmouth Town Under-13s were good value for their 4-1 success at Dawlish Foxes.
What made the Town victory all the more impressive was that they travelled to South Devon with a depleted side and were up against a well-organised home team.
In a bright start, Town were swiftly ahead with a delightful through ball from midfielder Aidinn Alijaj sending Will Lucas clear and he took the ball on before rifling it home.
The busy Alijaj then went close with a long-range strike that flew just wide.
However, from the resulting goal kick, the ball fell to makeshift striker Joe Atherton, who played a clever square ball to Lucas and he applied a fine finish from the tightest of angles to make it 2-0.
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Dawlish hit back, but some poor finishing denied them their one gilt-edged chance of the half as the Town back four and goalkeeper kept a tight rein on things.
Cody Lester, on the left wing, was causing all sorts of problems for Dawlish and he was denied by a smart save from the home glovesman. Midfielder Scott Boddy then tried his luck from distance, but saw his effort go wide of the mark.
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Lucas completed a first-half hat-trick in the closing moments of the half and a 3-0 interval lead certainly did not flatter Town.
Early in the second half a back-pass to Town glovesman Bill Wright was redirected by a piece of turf and ended up in the back of the net!
However, Town were soon back on the front foot and Boddy, Atherton, Lester and Alijaj all saw efforts saved. With Town dominating and right back Fred Robinson increasing his influence on things, the only surprise was that it took Town until the 70th minute to add to their tally!
It came from a slick counter-attack. Alijaj broke over the halfway line and played in Lester, who cut in from the left before powering his shot beyond the ‘keeper.
Late on, Dawlish threw all they had at Town and it needed some smart saves from Town keeper Wright and some excellent ‘tracking back’ from winger Kai Smith, together with some terrific defending from Brad Upcott, Nial Christensen and Charlie James, to keep them at bay.
Town coaches Nick James and Mark Upcott were left thrilled with the collective efforts of their team. The Man of the Match award went to hat-trick scorer Will Lucas and there were also fine individual contributions from, in particular, Aidinn Alijaj, Cody Lester and Fred Robinson.
