With back-to-back games against two other sides in the Southern Combination Premier Division top five to finish the month, Allen sat out the 4-2 victory over Lingfield a week earlier to freshen up for the first road trip of the year and the Dockers were on the receiving end of a masterclass from GFC’s record scorer as he notched his 29th hat-trick for the club with three outstanding finishes.
‘Most people are lucky to score 29 goals, he’s got 29 hat-tricks, so unbelievable,’ said coach Kevin Gilligan on the GFC social media platforms.
‘A bit of a gamble resting him last week, but I think it showed by his performance today it was the right thing to do and he will go into the big game next weekend against Steyning ready to go.’
Allen had already had the ball in the back of the net once, only for the offside flag to deny him, before opening the scoring at Trafalgar Ground with a tremendous volley on the quarter-hour as the Green Lions got off to a flier against a Newhaven side who must be sick of the sight of them, having conceded seven at Victoria Park in the reverse fixture.
GFC went on to dominate the first half, creating several good chances and converting two more before the interval.
Allen got his second just after the half-hour with a left-footed curler into the far corner after good work by the two Fins – Patterson and Du Port – in the build up.
Four minutes later Sam Murray was on hand to tap in from close range after Frazer Maginnis had burst into the box and drove the ball goalwards from an angle.
Early in the second half Ryan Blunt reduced the deficit, but any hopes Newhaven had of mounting a comeback were soon dashed when Murray got his second poacher’s goal of the game.
Allen completed the scoring and his hat-trick with 25 minutes still to go with a mirror image of his second goal as this time he used his right foot to bend the ball into the far corner.
‘The result was the key thing – we thought it would be closer than it was today,’ Gilligan said.
‘In the [home] game we beat them quite comfortably, but that was probably one of our best performances, so we thought it would be a little bit tougher.
‘But we started fast, we were electric, got those goals and some fantastic goals from Ross again and it was good to see Muz back scoring.’
With the three points already secure, GFC were also able to give some valuable playing time to players returning from injury with Niall Hainsworth, Tom Vaudin and Simon Arnold all coming off the bench.
‘It’s great to have a big squad, we’re going to need a big squad going into the run in,’ Gilligan said.
‘We got a bit thin about a month or so ago, we were scrambling around for 11, now there’s going to be a lot of competition just to even get into the 16, which is fantastic for us as coaches.’
Third-placed GFC are now six points ahead of Newhaven, who have dropped to sixth.
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