HAT-TRICK hero Danny Makaruk believes Hereford Hockey Club can win their league if they maintain their current form after hammering Cardiff & Metropolitan 4th 7-2.

Only goal difference separates the city side from leaders Wotton-under-Edge in Davis Wood Hockey League De Cymru and The Marches 1 and the two sides meet in the final game of the season on March 21.

“We are right on teams from the start and they can’t handle it at the minute,” said Makaruk.

“If we keep it up, with five more games to go, we’re going to walk away with it.”

Hereford are nine points clear of third placed Cardiff University 2nd, who they recently beat 6-1, with the top two sides gaining promotion.

“You don’t play a game to lose, you play to win, and the aim is to go up every season,” said Makaruk.

“Sometimes you struggle, but we’ve been up there from the start this season and have played well.

“The nucleus of the team is there and have got a few youngsters coming through and have slotted in lovely.”

Hereford were 3-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes against Cardiff & Metropolitan 4th thanks to two goals from Hamish Cameron and one from Andy Rogers.

Makaruk said that the plan was to hassle their opponents from the start, which worked.

“We controlled the game thereafter and their only option was short corners,” said Makaruk, who is an engineer in the Royal Navy in Scotland.

“They scored with a couple of them with some great strikes, but as a team, we outplayed them.

“We set out with a game plan to hassle them and that played dividends.

“We were short of players and had to go with a bare 11, but we got the three goals which set us up for the rest of the game.

“It was nice to be amongst the goals, it’s a long journey for me to come here every weekend, but am absolutely loving it here.”

After opening up a 3-0 lead, Cardiff & Metropolitan 4th pulled a goal back after 14 minutes through Mike Salmon.

But that was as good as it got for them in the first half and Hereford restored their three-goal advantage through Makuruk seven minutes before the break.

Makaruk then grabbed his second goal of the game after 42 minutes before sealing his hat-trick four minutes later.

Salmon scored again for the away side, but it was Hereford who had the final word when Rogers grabbed his second goal of the game from close range.

Hereford captain Mark Allen praised the team effort of his team after starting with a bare 11 due to injuries.

“It’s good that we’ve got a lot of strength in depth because in previous seasons we would have really struggled with that amount of people out,” said Allen.

“Tom Salter has come through and played left-back.

“He started in the second team and is still young, but we brought him in around Christmas time.

“He has played really well and has been man-of-the-match in two out of the last three weeks.

“For his age he has got such composure and skill.

“We have had a couple of rocky seasons, but we have stabilised this season and it is going much better.”