Dandy Town Hornets looked set for a second straight draw, and possibly out of first place in the Premier Division, before a frantic finish helped by substitutes Dominique Lambert and Fabian Frankson lifted them to a 4-0 win over Boulevard at St John’s Field.

Lambert smashed a hat-trick in the last 18 minutes as the Town win, combined with the 0-0 draw between Robin Hood and Devonshire Cougars, enabled them to open a three-point gap at the top.

For 70 minutes Town struggled to find a way past a determined Boulevard defence, then the floodgates opened after Lambert, only on the field for a few minutes, opened the scoring in the 72nd minute after being set up by Frankson.

Three more goals came late in the game.

“The game is 90 minutes and we believe we are one of the fittest teams out here,” Jomar Wilkinson, the Town coach, said.

“We understand the process, we understand that in the second half we get stronger. We call it ‘leggy time’, that’s Mr [Gladwin] Richardson our fitness coach, we call him ‘Leggy Time’.

“We tend to step it up a notch with another gear to go and we showed it today.”

After last weekend’s draw with Southampton Rangers when they scored their three goals even later in the game, Town were anxious to bounce back, although Boulevard matched them in the first half.

“My hat goes off to Boulevard, a fine performance today,” Wilkinson said. “I thought fitness played a big part in their demise as the game went on. We weren’t as good as we can be but it’s about peaking at the right time. “Boulevard definitely gave us a fight today and showed a lot of character. They aren’t going to be a walkover for anybody, I believe they’re going to go from strength to strength after today’s performance. We scored four goals today but the score doesn’t reflect how the game went so I hope they feel encouraged.”

Hood missed the chance to keep in touch with the leaders when they could only manage a scoreless draw with bottom team Devonshire Cougars who picked up their first point of the season.

Devonshire Colts closed the gap on second-place Hood with a 2-1 win over PHC, with Ryan Purnell and Kyle Jones scored to give Colts their first victory since October 9. Jones’s winner came in the 78st minute, a header from a McQuinn Burch corner.

“I was actually telling my players to play the corner short and they ignored me, kicked it over, and what a splendid goal it was,” Gerald Bean, the Colts coach, said.

“This victory is hard because we have got a quite a few injuries already. We were the walking wounded today, but our players showed pure character and heart and that’s all we ask from them.

“This league is showing that anybody can step up and beat anybody and we are just thrilled with the way our boys handled themselves today.”

Southampton Rangers and North Village drew 2-2, as Rangers made it four games unbeaten since their 6-1 hammering at the hands of Hood last month. Somerset Trojans beat Hamilton Parish 1-0 at Somerset Cricket Club on Saturday night to climb to fourth in the table.