ADAM Cornell bagged an eight-minute hat-trick as Bracknell Town ended their league fixtures by hammering Ashford Town 6-0 at Larges Lane on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

Joel Jacobs, Liam Ferdinand and Kensley Maloney completed the rout, which assured them of second place in the South Central Division of the Bostik League.

It is the third year running the Robins have collected the runners-up prize – the previous two coming in the Hellenic League – and the third season in a row they have netted more than 100 goals.

Like last year, they remained unbeaten at home in league games and are the only team in all four divisions of the Bostik League not to have lost in front of their own fans.

A crowd of 282, making them the best-supported team in their division, thoroughly enjoyed this goal fest as Town totally out-played Ashford in all departments.

The margin of victory could so easily have been more, as Ferdinand struck the woodwork three times, several chances went begging, while Ashford keeper Tyler Tobin made a number of excellent saves.

Ferdinand had already left the crossbar quivering from his thunderous strike before the hosts took a 15th-minute lead when Jacobs scored direct from a corner, the left wing-back's second goal in successive games. The ball was scrambled away, but the referee's assistant was up with play to confirm the goal.

Soon afterwards, Seb Bowerman made a long, surging run down the left which ended with his shot just missing the far post, but in the 24th minute the winger set up Ferdinand for his 31st goal of the season, the highest total in South Central by a comfortable margin.

Robins were also enjoying success on the other flank, where Joe Grant was unstoppable and it was he who set up all three goals for Cornell, which came in the 35th, 38th and 43rd minutes.

Six minutes into the second half Ferdinand saw his effort superbly tipped onto the bar by Tobin and it was a mixture of the goalie's excellence, wasted chances and Town running into offside positions which restricted Town to just one more goal.

It was worth waiting for, as Maloney went on a long, surging run through the visitors' defence before slotting it nicely past the keeper to make it 6-0 in the 64th minute.

Ferdinand had two late opportunities to add to the tally, but could not find a way past Tobin, who certainly saved his side from a much heavier defeat.

The match was well refereed by Lisa Benn, the Berks & Bucks FA referees' development officer who this coming Saturday will be the fourth official at the Women's FA Cup final between West Ham United and Manchester City at Wembley.

If Town were successful in their semi-final against Westfield last night (Tuesday) they will meet Cheshunt or Marlow in the play-off final at Larges Lane this coming Saturday.