Falmouth Town 4, Saltash United 3

JORDAN ANNEAR’S hat-trick helped Falmouth Town leapfrog opponents Saltash United into fourth place following a seven-goal thriller at Bickland Park on Wednesday night.

In a topsy-turvy game, both sides squandered leads to go into half-time level at 2-2. Town scored another two after the break before Saltash scored a late consolation.

Annear grabbed his first goal on 15 minutes when he converted James Ward’s headed pass from close range. The goal means the striker has now scored in each of his last nine games.

The joy was short lived however, as Saltash equalised through Ryan Richards within a minute of Annear’s strike, despite protests from the home dugout that Richards was offside.

Saltash won 3-0 when the two sides met a few weeks ago, and they led again in the 32nd minute when Sam Farrant picked up the ball in acres of space and fired past Ryan Barnes.

Once again the celebrations were premature as Falmouth levelled just over a minute later. Luke Brabyn fed the ball to Annear who slotted in for his second of the game.

Referee Mark Carroll picked up an injury so the second half was delayed by 10 minutes while a replacement linesman arrived to take new referee George Pattison’s place.

Pattison’s first job was to award a penalty to the home side less than a minute into the second-half. Annear put the spot kick away to seal his hat-trick and restore Town’s lead.

The hosts pushed for a fourth goal and it came on 69 minutes when Joe Cooper gave Saltash keeper Ryan Rickard no chance with a bullet header from David Broglino’s corner.

Veteran striker Lee Phillips reduced the deficit in the 90th minute to make it a nervous final few minutes for Town, but the hosts held on for their fifth successive victory.

Packet Pick: Jordan Annear – The striker continued his red-hot form of late with an excellent hat-trick.

Falmouth: R Barnes, D Blizzard, O Moody, J Ward (T Annear 62), J Cooper (c), J Webber (J Richards 55), L Brabyn, D Broglino, M Jones (R Wearne 67), J Annear, H Clarke.

Falmouth’s next game is at home to Exmouth Town on Saturday.