Midfield ace takes his treble chance in style
HEAD coach Paul Davis praised the goal-scoring exploits of midfielder Lewis Ison whose hat-trick wrapped up a 3-0 victory over AFC Sudbury on Tuesday night to rekindle Stratford Town’s title push.
But the Bards boss was just as delighted with the clean sheet and the performance of some of his on-loan youngsters.
Ison’s early opener prompted a reaction from the Suffolk visitors with rookie Walsall loanee keeper Jenson Kilroy forced into making two fine saves.
A sublime overhead kick from Ison came against the run of play with his long-range third capping a man of the match display.
Davis said: “They were three good goals, I’m pleased for him. We haven’t had anyone score a hat-trick this season and to do it from midfield is rare – you don’t see them at any level any more since the Lampards and the Gerrards. He deserves it because of the workrate he goes through in the team.
“Goals decide games and we got ours at the right time. When we scored our second it knocked the stuffing out of them and after the third we could have probably gone on and scored a fourth. But we managed the game well.
“The thing that pleased me most though was that it was another clean sheet. We have conceded fewer than one goal per game and I said at the start of the season that if we conceded fewer than 40 goals over 42 games then we would be in the play-offs, minimum. And with ten games to go we are in the hunt for the lot.
“I think they [Sudbury] are one of the best footballing teams in the division and we have had to be on our mettle to win the game and keep a clean sheet. At 1-0 Jenson makes some really important saves and he hasn’t had a great deal to do in the other two games he’s played so that’s really pleasing for him.
“I was also pleased for Kasway [Burton]. He gives us a bit of a different dynamic playing on the right and gets crosses into the box. I thought he tired a little towards the end but that was his first start in senior football so it was expected.
Hat-trick hero Ison admitted that his terrific treble against Sudbury was the first hat-trick he can remember scoring.
The midfield maestro said: “I’ve never scored a hat-trick before, not even as a junior as far as I can remember.
“The first was from a well-worked corner and then it was the overhead kick. I’ve tried it a few times over the season including on Saturday and the boys keep saying I’m never going to score with one.
“So when the ball sat up perfectly in the box I thought I’d go for the bicycle kick and had Wayne Rooney in the back of my mind. Thankfully it went in the top corner. I couldn't believe it but neither could anyone else because no-one celebrated with me. I didn’t know what to do. Hawks [Josh Hawker] told me he was laughing which was why he didn’t celebrate.
“I then made a few runs into the box when we broke, which was probably not the right thing to do when you are trying to protect a two-goal lead, but I had the hat-trick in mind and wanted to get into the box. I’d spotted the keeper off his line all game and when the ball sat up for me in front of the dugout I heard Paul Davis shout ‘no’ so I thought why not … and it’s gone in!”
