A SIMON DE'ATH hat-trick propelled Romsey Town to the top of the league in a four-star demolition of Shaftesbury at the Bypass Ground last Saturday.

Town reached the summit without playing their very best football; but they did enough to record an emphatic victory and boost their goal difference in the process.

It didn't take long for Romsey to get the Shaftesbury goal in their sights, Jamie Hookway getting forward to support his strikers but failing to find the target on two occasions.

De'ath gave Romsey the lead after 18 minutes with a superb goal. Andy Kemp broke from defence and sent De'ath through on the left; the striker skilfully wrongfooted the last defender and stroked the ball into the far corner of the net beyond the despairing grasp of Shaftesbury keeper Andy Phillips.

Kemp was denied by an offside flag when put through by Dean Constable, and Simon Woodley fired over after finding space on the edge of the box. But Shaftesbury came to life after half-an-hour, Gary Curry failing to control the ball after a fine pass had found him in space.

Shaftesbury came even closer when Curry was sent through again, this time by Ben Gibbs, but he was sent crashing to the ground by Andy Fung - who must have been relieved only to be shown a yellow card.

That signalled the start of a scrappy spell, Eddie Carlin and Danny Belbin also having their names taken, but De'ath gave his side breathing space five minutes before the break.

Constable exchanged passes with Woodley and set off on a mazy run, leaving four defenders in his wake before feeding De'ath on the edge of the box. De'ath's heels were clipped by Mark Cooper, the referee awarded a penalty, and De'ath tucked away the spot-kick to give his side a two-goal lead going into the break.

Romsey remained on top throughout the second half, and less and less was seen of Shaftesbury as Kemp dictated play in midfield and the rock-solid defensive trio of Belbin, Andy Foster and Paul King mopped up anything that came their way.

In the 59th minute Fung threaded a pass to Kemp on the right; he broke through Sid Trim's tackle and laid the ball off to De'ath, whose shot had enough pace and precision to beat Phillips for the third time.

That killed the game as a contest and gave Romsey the chance to give subs Paul Smith and Jay Ricketts a taste of the action.

Woodley completed the scoring with a power-drive from the edge of the box with nine minutes left, rounding off an excellent afternoon for the new Wessex Division 2 leaders. Now the challenge is to see how long they can stay there!