Gloucestershire County League

Kingswood 5 Yate Town Reserves 1

GARY Simmons hit a hat-trick as Kingswood thrashed Yate Town Reserves.

The visitors struggled throughout the first half and went into the break trailing 3-0.

Kingswood opened the scoring on ten minutes with a header from Simmons.

The visitors' young side found themselves up against a strong Kingswood outfit, who took a two-goal lead on 17 minutes from a long corner knocked to the far post to be headed back into the middle of the box, where Ben Vale stabbed the ball home.

Simon Clark's powerful shot across goal hit the upright and bounced clear on 24 minutes, but Kingswood got a third two minutes later.

Again it came from a corner with Yate keeper Reece Joint saving the first drive on goal only to see it rebound for Simmons to head home his second.

The Yate keeper was kept busy and brought off several good saves to deny the home side going further in front.

Five minutes into the second period the home side went further ahead. Jim Crossfield picked up the ball midway in the Yate half and pushed on towards their goal only to be brought down as he entered the box and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty.

The chance to complete a hat-trick was handed to Simmons and he duly obliged from the spot kick.

Yate pulled a goal back on 60 minutes a superb strike from Sam Gilchrist, cutting in from the right and unleashing a left foot drive across Fox and into the far side of the net.

The home side seemed content to sit back at this point and contain the visitors, but a break down the right flank five minutes from the end brought a fifth goal with a brilliant strike from Josh Stokes, who swivelled on the edge of the box and fired a low shot past Joint.