Ash United 2 Epsom 4

Epsom & Ewell's Simon Hatton returned from suspension to score a hat-trick and secure his side victory in their Surrey Senior Cup third round tie away to Ash United on Tuesday night, writes David Wilson.

Chris Barnes, 17, bagged his first senior goal for Epsom to complete the visitors' scoring.

But with tomorrow's league visit of second-placed Aveley looming, there were further injuries for manager Adrian Hill, who saw Simon Huckle and Simon Hatton limp out of the game.

Meanwhile, last Saturday, Epsom & Ewell took advantage of an early goal to extend their unbeaten run at Merland Rise to seven matches.

Tim Smith returned to the side after missing the league cup defeat at Ford United and Epsom tore into Flackwell Heath.

Epsom's goal came after four minutes when Micky Owen received the ball on the left, cut inside and crossed for Simon Huckle to head into the corner.

James Hall had a shot cleared from Jamie Buckley's free-kick and Flackwell's Richard Gould forced Dave Hyatt into a save, one of the few occasions the Epsom keeper was troubled.

Epsom nearly got a second after 27 minutes, when Hall headed against the bar from an acute angle, while Mark Freeborough knocked a shot from Justin Heywood out for a corner.

The second half continued with Epsom having most of the pressure without looking really convincing.

Epsom thought they had added a second after 64 minutes, but Hall's header span onto the post and was cleared by Heath's defence.

l Epsom reserves extended their impressive run of results with a 7-1 win at Godalming & Guildford last weekend even though they were without top scorer Luke Jones.

Joao Tome and Mark Packham scored hat tricks and Lee Purvis added the other.

December 4, 2001 11:00