Adderbury Park 5 Thornbury Town 4

Bluefin Sports Challenge Cup 1st Round

HOT-SHOT Thornbury striker Craig Lancastle hit the ground running with a stunning hat-trick in a nine-goal losing thriller for his side, writes Malcolm Carr.

Earlier, Town almost went behind in the first minute but keeper Rob Davies pulled off a great save to keep out Buckingham’s header.

Lancastle opened his account for the new season after four minutes when he picked up on a defensive mistake and shot past the home keeper Goode. Five minutes later Town doubled their lead when a patient build up between Leighton Tuodolo and Harry Brock saw the ball again come to Lancastle who fired past Goode. At this point Thorns looked as if they would go on to win comfortably with Aaron Clark heading narrowly over from Scott McLoud’s corner and Toby Bennett’s goalbound shot was deflected into Goode’s hands.

Against the run of play Buckingham pulled a goal back when his shot from 20 yards out found the corner of the net. On the half-hour mark Adderbury were level when a break down the left was finished off by Gibbins, and minutes later they went in front when Clynes header hit the post and Hamblett, following up, netted.

The second period saw Thorns start on the front foot but despite enjoying the majority of possession they struggled to create any clearcut chances. Buckingham shot wide when well placed for Adderbury and Rob Davies had to save at Gibbins feet. With 15 minutes left Park’s Northam was set up by Gibbins and he fired past Davies to give the hosts a 4-2 lead.

Town responded immediately with Lancastle completing his hat-trick and moments later Bennett’s shot was deflected for a corner. With 10 minutes left Harry Brock’s run took him past a static home defence and his cut back was steered home by Marcus Wormwell for the equaliser.

But within a minute Adderbury scored again when Northam’s cross cum shot found the far corner of Town’s net to give them the lead once more and one that this time they held on to until the final whistle.

A disappointing result for Thorns that they must quickly forget about as they look forward to their first ever venture into the FA Cup this Saturday with the long trip to play Leighton Town.

The following Tuesday, Thorns host their first home match of the new season when they either have an FA Cup replay against Leighton Town or a league fixture against Malvern Town, 7:45 pm kick-off.