On his return from a injury, which had kept him out of the past two games, Gethyn Hill netted a hat-trick, to lead Weston to a 4-2 victory at The Woodspring Stadum over bottom half side Oxford City.
Weston took the lead in the fifth minute when Tristan Plummer bamboozled the visitors right-back. Cutting onto his left, Plummer shielded the ball expertly and was brought down for a penalty. Up stepped Hill, who calmly sent the ball down the middle, with Craig King wrongly guessing it was destined for the left corner.
Reece Fleet’s cross at the back post was nodded wide by Paterson, with Jarrad Welch slicing wide from 18 yards after Kris Scott had flicked the ball onto him.
An equaliser for Oxford came though when Kavan Cotter was able to run into the box with the ball. His shot was meant for the far post, however a heavy deflection took it inside Luke Purnell’s near post and into the net for 1 – 1.
Oxford took the lead a few minutes later when on the break, former Forest Green Rovers man Rob Sinclair was found on the right wing of Oxford’s attack. Running at the Seagulls defence, he cut across the ball and arrowed his shot into the far corner.
However, Weston were level once again before half-time when, using their corner routine, Greenslade drilled the ball in, Welch’s shot deflecting in off of the thigh of Hill to make the scores level at 2 – 2.
After the break, King expertly tipped a Welch free-kick from 20 yards over after the central midfielder had been tripped on the edge of the area.
However, Weston soon found themselves ahead again when Greenslade’s free-kick was passed to Naby Diallo. Diallo swung the ball to the back post, where right-back Aaron Parsons rose above Seagulls centre-back Jake Lee to power a header into the back of the net.
Keeping possession patiently, Weston got a fourth through an Oxford lapse in concentration. A pass went astray, which Welch was quick to latch on to. His pass through the defence was inch-perfect for Hill, who kept his composure and lofted the ball over King for 4 – 2, with his three fingers towards the crowd indicating the day that the striker had scored his first hat-trick in Weston colours, taking him to joint-third in the scoring charts.
However, the good result was marred by an injury to Hill as the clock ticked into the 90th minute, with Geth having just recovered from a tight hamstring, Hill leapt for a header and on landing, he was left banging the floor in agony, with Hill eventually removed from the field of play.
FT: Weston 4 – 2 Oxford City (Hill 5 pen, 41, 79-Cotter 26, Sinclair 29)
Weston XI: Purnell, Parsons, Greenslade, Cane (C), Pope, Lee, Welch, Diallo, Hill (Laird 90), PLummer (Llewellyn 88), Scott (Kington 83). Unused sub: Morris-Edwards
MOTM: Jacob Cane – The skipper controlled proceedings in the centre of the park, again putting himself about by making challenges, intercepting Oxford passes and letting the creative talents of Welch, Plummer, Scott and Hill do the talking when going forward.