OWEN James scored a hat-trick as Stratford Town cruised to a 4-1 victory against Barwell.
James netted a quickfire brace in the first half before completing the scoring late on while Henry Landers also found the net for the Bards at the Arden Garages Stadium.
The result lifts Stratford out of the Southern League Premier Central relegation zone with the Bards 16th in the table.
Stratford broke the deadlock on 21 minutes when James rose unmarked to nod home Fin Brennan’s cross from the left.
And James struck again three minutes later as he jinked his way through the Barwell defence before finding the net.
However, Barwell halved the deficit eight minutes after the break as Charlie Dowd headed home a hopeful cross from the left.
The Bards restored their two-goal cushion six minutes later when Landers curled a loose ball into the top left corner from the edge of the penalty area after Barwell failed to deal with a long throw.
And James completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot on 77 minutes to seal the points after he drew a foul in the box and duly dispatched the resulting spot kick.
Stratford are next in action against AFC Sudbury on Saturday, September 20 with kick-off at 3pm at Brundon Lane.
