AN ASHLEY Edenborough hat-trick saw Highworth Town record a 3-2 win over Oxford City Nomads to move fourth in the Premier Division.

The game was more comfortable for the visitors than the scoreline suggests, according to manager Jeff Roberts, who saw his side pull into a three-goal lead.

The first goal came in the second half when Tony Joyce played a ball in from the right and Edenborough was unmarked to head home.

Edenborough had a taste for the goals and was quick to put the Oxford defenders under pressure and nicked the ball before finding the corner for his second.

The hat-trick was completed from the penalty spot before Oxford responded late on with goals from Billy Gillett and Matthew Peake-Pinjen.

“In the first half, we were both cancelling each other out, trying to play a bit of football on a reasonably good pitch and we didn’t really penetrate enough,” said Roberts.

“We went in at half-time and said that we needed to press a little bit. We were doing the right things in defence and midfield but in the last third, we weren’t really putting them under pressure.

“In the second half, we came out and squeezed them and they were making mistake after mistake.

“We could have come away with six or seven. Ash took his chances well.

“There was another one that went over the line before being cleared but the linesman didn’t give it.

“We were 3-0 up and we should have sat back and carried on playing our football and then hit them on the counter-attack.

“We continued, I don’t know why we do it, to push the game and score more goals and we got caught out late on.

“Our performance, especially the second half, I thought we thoroughly deserved that.”

Roberts was full of praise for Edenborough after the game, with his hat-trick taking him to 13 goals for the season.

He is now two behind strike partner Aysa Corrick, with the duo starting to form a formidable partnership up top at The Elms.

“He thoroughly deserved his goals on Saturday and could have had a couple more,” added Roberts.

“Aysa has got the quality about him but Ash has got the knowledge upstairs.

“He will commit defenders and he will know when they are coming into the tackle and he will slip the ball to the side of them.

“Aysa will do a shift for 90 minutes and graft, which Ash is not that inclined to do.

“They are two different strikers and we are lucky at the moment because between the two of them they score a lot of goals.”