Southampton Rangers 1 Dandy Town 4

Temiko Wilson’s hat-trick maintained Dandy Town’s two-point cushion at the top of the Premier Division as they beat Southampton Rangers at Southampton Oval.

Wilson grabbed his three goals in a 26-minute span in the second half, while Zaire Burchall also chipped in with a goal. Dion Stovell scored the home side’s goal. Willie Clemons, the Rangers midfielder, was sent off for two bookable offences, the last in the 78th minute.

“The job as a striker is to score and that’s what I did today,” Wilson said, “I really think that I had a slow start to the match, but as it wore on the goals came.

“Goals win games and it feels good. It is important to be switched on in the opening and ending five minutes of both halves and it was in the second half that I was able to produce the goal that sent us on our way.”

With both title and relegation implications on the line heading into the match, neither side gave an inch in the opening half of a tense affair.

Both sides had a chance to break the deadlock, with Keedai Astwood, the Rangers midfielder, almost scoring directly from a corner when his effort hit the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.

Wilson had his side’s best chance in first-half stoppage time, but screwed his shot wide of the mark.

The lanky striker would not be as generous in the second half, finishing every opportunity that was presented to him.

His first, only minutes into the second half, had him in a yard of space, and he turned Maurice Lowe, the Rangers player-coach, to slam home from six yards to send the leaders on their way. It would be 12 minutes until the next goal, courtesy of Wilson, when the exceptional Zaire Burchall’s unselfish play resulted in a one-two between himself and Damon Ming, the Town captain, which was ended at the back post by the striker.

Stovell, who was surprisingly left out of the starting line-up, made an instant impact midway through the second half as he injected passion and vision to what was turning out to be a lacklustre day for the home side.

His goal 17 minutes from time put Rangers on the ascendancy, swivelling on a dime and lashing home from eight yards.

Wilson capped on a fine performance by being in the right place at the right time once again two minutes later.

For all his hard work and dedication to the cause, Burchall was rewarded with the goal of the game when he planted a 20-yard strike in the top far right corner.

“As a striker you can never give up at any stage of the game because it is when you turn off that the chance comes to you,” Wilson said.

“I listen to what the coaching staff asked of me and it was in my head what they said, so the game plan worked and it showed in the goals I scored.”

n Flanagan’s Onions match league match against title challengers Somerset Trojans at Goose Gosling Field on Saturday was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.