Huntingdonshire FA 3 Herefordshire FA 2

A HAT-TRICK by the home side's Paul Bass was enough to settle this Midland Counties Under-18 Championship match in Huntingdonshire's favour.

Bass opened the scoring after just five minutes when he blasted the ball home after Herefordshire goalkeeper Bryn Watkins had made two fine blocking saves.

Louis Catley and Lee Mussell had chances to level and Mussell fired against the woodwork before Bass scored his second 10 minutes into the second half, firing into the net after a goalmouth melee.

Sam McCoy reduced arrears following a 20-yard run but Bass completed his hat-trick with an unstoppable shot past Steve Bell who had replaced the injured Watkins in the Herefordshire goal.

Nick Panniers' well-taken goal put Herefordshire back into the match once again and Mussell missed a glorious chance to level when his header missed the target in the final minutes.

Herefordshire were unlucky not to gain something from a game in which their standard of play was generally good. Shaun Gallagher made an excellent debut after replacing the injured Adam Peters with 15 minutes played.