FOWNHOPE cruised through to the next round of the HFA cup after an emphatic 6-0 victory over Leominster Town at Briarwood Stadium on Saturday.

A Hat-trick from defender turned midfielder Ian Smith helped the villagers to a comfortable win and they now face giants Westfields in the next round.

Will Morrall, stand-in manager, said: “We’re really pleased with the result - Leominster is never an easy place to come to as they have got a lot of players available to them.

“To come here and get a good result and a clean sheet – I can’t fault it.

“We seemed to be a bit fitter than Leominster today, we got around the pitch a bit better and we kept our shape well which is what we asked for.”

Fownhope got off to a flyer on seven minutes when Smith got his first after picking up the ball in midfield and curling one over Leominster goalkeeper Liam Hill from 25 yards out.

“He’s usually a centre half, due to injury we had to tweak the formation and I initially asked him to play a holding role but obviously he’s managed to get forward and bagged himself three goals, said Morrall.

“He’s one of the players we’ve added to the squad to add that extra bit of quality.”

14 minutes later it was 2-0 as Smith grabbed his second when his shot from the edge of the area was deflected past the helpless Hill in the Leominster goal.

The hat-trick was then completed on 33 minutes when he got on the end of a Sam Wright cross to turn the ball into the net.

Fownhope were rampant and added a forth before the break when Phil Spencer scored on 39 minutes.

Leominster looked better at the start of the second half and Steve Richardson had to make two decent saves to keep them out.

In the end the villagers regained control and James Fussell and Sam Lewis added goals to give them the emphatic 6-0 win.

Fownhope will now play holders Westfields away in the next round of the competition and Morrall said the players should be looking forward to it.

“Well just go out there and enjoy it, we’re not expecting to get anything out of the game but if we can go out there and put on a good show of ourselves we’ll be happy.”

The villagers play Ross Juniors this weekend in the HFA Senior Cup, a competition that Morrall thinks Fownhope should be looking to possibly win.

“We came here wanting to win obviously but that’s the cup we want to win,” said Morrall.

Leominster have now lost the last six games in all competitions and manager Terry Williams was disappointed with the attitude of some of his players.

He said: “It’s a disappointing result and it’s not so much the performance but the attitude from the lads.

“We we’re hoping to run them a bit closer today, things have been looking up over the last few weeks but it wasn’t to be.”

Leominster face Tenbury in the HFA senior cup this weekend in the Senior Cup.

Williams said: “It’s been a bit hit and miss this season and I see Tenbury have had a difficult start like us – hopefully it will be a good game.”