Mansfield’s first half hat-trick helps Meon Milton trounce depleted Whiteley in Hampshire Premier League
The striker is among a host of players who joined Meon in the summer from former Mid-Solent League rivals FC Strawberry.
Having netted twice the previous week in a HPL Cup win against Kingsclere, Mansfield went on better as Meon handed fellow Division 1 South East new boys a 5-1 beating at Cockleshell Gardens.
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Hide AdLeft back Fred Hoare, another ex-Strawberry regular, struck twice including a second half shot from about 30 yards that screamed into the top corner. ‘It was incredible,’ said boss Bic Singh.
Meon stormed into a 4-0 half-time lead with Mansfield completing a treble after Hoare had broken the deadlock.
For Whiteley, it was the heaviest defeat in their three-year history.
‘It was only the third league game we’ve lost,’ said boss Steve Thomas.
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Hide Ad‘I’m not too worried - we had eight players out including both our goalkeepers and our captain.
‘I’ve never known anything like it - for the first time, I thought I might have to get my boots back on at the age of 55!
‘The opponents played a good game. They were quick, they closed us down quickly. But I’ll look forward to giving them a proper game at the Meadowside.’
Keeper Anton Blake, signed in pre-season from Wessex Leaguers Hythe & Dibden, and skipper Aaron Lobb, once of Eastleigh, were among Wanderers’ absentees.
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Hide AdRegular centre halves Joe Besci and Frankie Rudland and University of Portsmouth skipper Alex Fitzgerald were also missing.
Joe McClean bagged Whiteley’s consolation when they trailed 5-0.
Meon host former Mid-Solent League rivals Harvest this weekend. Adam Beckett is sidelined through injury and Frankie Scott, another former Strawberry player, is a fitness doubt.
‘It will be a bit of a battle,’ said Singh regarding renewing rivalries with Harvest. ‘It will be tough from front to back.’
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Hide AdKrzysick Krysztofowicz continued his goal-laden start to 2021/22 as Harvest suffered their opening defeat of the Hampshire Premier League Division 1 South East season.
The Polish striker netted NINE times in QK Southampton’s 13-0 curtain-raising win against Netley - on the same day Harvest thrashed Michelmersh & Timsbury 11-0.
Krysztofowicz then netted twice in a 5-3 HPL Cup win against top flight Liphook before adding another brace in a 4-3 victory over Harvest at Front Lawn.
‘He’s too good for this level, he should be playing Wessex League,’ declared Harvest boss Steve Harris.
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Hide AdKrysztofowicz wasn’t even in QK’s first team last season; instead, he plundered 19 goals in 16 Hampshire Combination West Division outings for their reserves.
‘We were off the pace,’ Harris summed up. ‘If they have a main man you can’t let him play, and we did.
‘The only positive - and you have to take the positives - is that we can’t play that badly again. It was the worst I’ve seen us play for a while.’
Callum Harman, Harry Leigh and an own replied for Harvest, who were awarded a late penalty by the referee - only for the QK linesman to put his flag up.
‘It’s frustrating,’ rued Harris. ‘But that’s what you get at this level of the game. It is what it is - you have to go through these levels to get where you want to be.’