Little Crown 1 Duke of Wellington 6

JOINT manager and Blackburn Rovers star David Dunn may have been missing but the Duke of Wellington's promotion charge is still on course thanks to uncle Stuart.

For Dunn senior scored a memorable hat-trick even his more illustrious nephew would have been proud of.

After a simple tap-in to open the scoring, striker Dunn grabbed his second with a superb 25 yard curler before completing his hat-trick with a delicate chip.

And, as one of the team-mates pointed out, just imagine what he could do if he lost a couple of stone!

Little Crown had appeared to be in buoyant mood - with their new half price match ball and self-appointed manager Paul Whiting is strong voice.

And it was the Haslingden side that should have opened the scoring when Paul Robinson did well to get a cross in, only for Steve Turner to hit the cross bar from close range.

The Duke promptly went and took the lead.

After a sustained period of pressure, Dunn found himself unmarked in the area and he cooly side-footed home Duncan Smith's centre.

While the Duke were playing the more attractive football - something obviously picked up from their manager - Little Crown were still dangerous in a more direct sense.

Turner had one flick on cleared away from under the cross bar and Lawson Hill was alert to block shots from Robinson and Anthony Flynn in quick succession.

For the Duke, Shane Hindle was also having a fine game and his pace troubled Little Crown down the right hand side. And it was Hindle who set up the second when his lob completely foxed keeper Mark Swift and Matt Haworth reacted quickly to nod the ball in right on the line.

Little Crown needed a quick reply and they got it when Robinson raced onto a through ball and arrowed a solid right foot shot past John Sykes.

The home side then enjoyed the best spell of the match when Paul Archer fired a shot just wide while the Duke's Paul Clifford bravely threw himself in the way of Turner's goalbound effort.

The match was evenly poised going into the second half but after Sidney West just failed to get his head to Flynn's free kick, it was the last clear cut chance Little Crown were to get.

The Crown extended their lead when it appeared that Dunn was the only player who knew what was going to happen next. He cut inside his marker to hit a fabulous curling effort that gave the keeper no chance.

But apparently he does it every week!

The points were sealed in the next attack when Haworth thundered a header home from Steve Curry's corner.

Haworth then turned provider when his excellent pass set Dunn free and his first time chip defied the boggy conditions to grab his third of the game in style.

At the other end, nothing seemed to be going right for Turner in front of goal. For after beating his marker for pace, drawing the keeper he saw his effort hit the post.

Duke of Wellington brought on the other part of the managerial team David Thompson and he was soon in the action when his shot from the edge of the area was acrobatically tipped over by Swift. While Dunn was the undoubted star of the afternoon, if anyone deserved a goal it was Hindle.

And the tireless winger grabbed number six when he kept his cool when he beat the offside trap to slide the ball beyond Swift.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.