Wittering Premiair beat Oundle Town in Peterborough League Premier Division clash

Andrew Moss hit a hat-trick as Wittering Premiair returned to winning ways with victory over Oundle Town on Wednesday night.

Sam Cayley's side had lost their first match of the Peterborough League Premier Division campaign at the weekend when they went down to Eye United.

But the Harriers hit back to defeat a fellow newly-promoted side in Oundle to record their third success from four games.

They went into the match looking for a much-improved performance after their sub-standard display at the weekend.

They welcomed back James Savage into their defence and also brought in Jackson Andrews and Dan Hook.

Wittering started brightly with the high press working well and Oundle struggled to play out and through it.

Harriers had some early chances which were well saved by the Oundle keeper to keep the scoreline goalless.

Oundle continued to try and play out from the back which saw them gain the first real opportunity when the ball was played into their striker who went over in the area with the referee pointing to the spot.

However, Andrews made a fine save down to his left when he pushed the ball onto the post to then calmly gather.

The game was even for the next 15 minutes with both teams working hard and playing some good football.

The breakthrough came when some good play down left saw a shot bounce off the crossbar for Moss to be in the right position to nod the ball home into an empty net.

Wittering's goal seemed to revitalise the team and their work-rate stepped up a notch as they doubled the lead.

A long ball into new signing Nicki Young was perfectly played into the path of skipper Grant Tippett to carry it and round the keeper before passing across the goal for Moss to pop up again.

Oundle came out for the second half and continued to play some lovely football but the Wittering defence stayed resilient with some great defensive work.

Wittering found themselves down to 10 men for 10 minutes after debutant Hook was sin-binned.

And this allowed Oundle to take control of the game with the extra man and Andrews was forced into a flurry of saves.

Oundle were reduced to 10 men themselves with five minutes remaining after a player was forced off injured having used all their subs earlier in the game.

Wittering then sealed the win with their third goal when Moss took down a long ball and found himself through on goal with fellow strike partner Will Chamberlain baring down on the keeper.

With Moss on a hat-trick, he placed the ball beyond the stranded keeper to secure the three points for Harriers.

Manager Cayley said: "The performance on Saturday wasn't good enough and afterwards the boys quickly realised that.

"We turned up on Wednesday night knowing that Oundle would be a very good footballing side and they have already taken points off some good sides.

"Everyone in the squad worked hard and listened to everything we wanted. Mossy was clinical and the front three looked dangerous.

"The defence were superb and Jackson in goal made some important saves, including the early penalty.

"It's always nice to get a clean sheet which is something in recent seasons that we have struggled to get.

"Oundle played some good stuff and really tested us at the back. They will be a team who will definitely be up there competing at the end of the season."

Wittering entertain Moulton Harrox on Saturday.