Brentwood Town 6 Soham Town Rangers 3

Football

A SUPERB hat-trick from in-form striker Robbie Mason hat-trick was overshadowed by a rampant Brentwood team who ran in six against Soham.

The Greens came into the match on the back of an 8-2 win at high-flyers Heybridge Swifts but, despite taking the lead, looked unusually flimsy in defence, shipping six goals.

Despite the defeat, Steve Fallon’s men remain in seventh place in the Ryman League Division One South, with the visit of lowly Chatham Town to come on Saturday.

Mason and Soham created a number of good opportunities in the opening 20 minutes of the match, with the striker spurning a one-on-one opportunity while Dan Bircham produced two excellent saves at the other end to keep the scores level.

Mason wasn’t to be denied for long however, as, in the 25th minute, he opened the scoring, collecting Michael Simpson’s throughball to finish past the home goalkeeper.

Unfortunately for the Greens however, Brentwood came back strongly and fired four unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes of the half, Alex Read collecting a hat-trick and Abs Seymour putting the game all but beyond Soham.

The hosts rubbed more salt in the wound after the break as Daryl Robson curled past Dan Bircham less than 10 minutes in to give the scoreline a one-sided look.

Battling Soham showed admirable spirit to continue the fight however, and restored a degree of pride as Mason collected James McCabe’s ball inside the area to fire home.

Brentwood’s Read collected his fourth of the game from the penalty spot with 10 minutes to go after Joe Asensi was adjudged to have fouled a striker but it was Mason who had the final say, notching his third of the game in the 84th minute after mopping up a rebound in the area.

Soham’s Tuesday evening Ryman League Cup fourth round match against Wroxham was postponed due to a frozen pitch and will be rescheduled to a later date.