Hatfield's Jay Welsh, pictured here about to swing in a cross, scored his side's first goal against Hadley

HATFIELD Town FC ended a run of five league defeats on the trot as they defeated Hadley 2-1 at Gosling Stadium on Saturday.

The Blueboys were 1-0 down after 50 minutes when Hakim Medfai netted but showed good fighting spirit to claim all three points in the South Midlands League Premier Division clash.

Influential defender Jay Welsh headed the equaliser 12 minutes after conceding, and it was winger Ryan North whose goal eventually sealed victory with a neat finish in the 66th minute.

Remarkably, Welsh is the club’s top scorer in the league with nine goals to his name.

The win comes as a big relief to Hatfield, who have closed the gap on Hadley to four points.

The Blueboys are third-bottom in the standings with 20 points from their 24 games played - four clear of Holmer Green and seven clear of basement boys Hanwell Town.

Town’s joint-manager Darryn Stewart said: “When we went 1-0 down all credit to the lads as they could have thought ‘oh no, here we go again’

“But instead they kept at it, and in the end we were well worthy of the win.

“We knew they’d be defensive as they play five at the back for home games, so this wasn’t going to be any different.

“But it’s effective for them, if not negative football.

“We deserved to win, it would have been an injustice if we had not got the three points.”

This Saturday sees a real six-pointer as Hatfield host Holmer Green.

“It’s a massive game against Holmer, and we want to get out of the position we are in as soon as possible really.

“I think we will get stronger and have a much better second half of the season than the first. I’m aiming for 10 wins out of our last 20 league games.”