Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division Broxbourne Borough V&E 5 Welwyn Garden City 0 John Hutchinson reports from Goffs Lane A HAT-TRICK from Broxbourne striker Danny Ward saw managerless WGC crumble to a demoralising defeat at Goffs Lane. Follow

Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division

Broxbourne Borough V&E 5 Welwyn Garden City 0

John Hutchinson reports from Goffs Lane

A HAT-TRICK from Broxbourne striker Danny Ward saw managerless WGC crumble to a demoralising defeat at Goffs Lane.

Following the resignation of boss Howard Cowley some days earlier, Dave Lewis was put in temporary charge of team affairs until the end of the campaign.

He has his work cut out to salvage anything out of what has been a hugely disappointing season.

WGC fell behind after only 12 minutes on Saturday when good work down the byline from the speedy Bradley Drisdale led to a cross for the unmarked Michael Nathan to thunder home.

The goal was a sign of things to come, as the reshuffled WGC defence failed to cope with the pace and trickery of Drisdale, and the movement of Nathan and Ward up front.

Only four minutes later, the home side made it 2-0 when a miskick from City keeper Simon Bartley left an easy tap-in for Ward as the game looked to be heading towards a rout.

The Herns Lane side had a chance on 24 minutes, when a free-kick found Al Oujdi whose firm header was tipped over the crossbar by Obey Mufeyu.

Rickelle Christian was booked for dissent just prior to the set-piece being taken as tempers began to flair in the WGC team.

Borough, dominating the game and always looking dangerous going forward, extended their lead in the 37th minute when a penalty was given.

Bartley, having a game to forget, brought down Ward in the area, and Tony Burke stepped up to coolly slot home as a heavy defeat loomed for the away side.

The hosts hadn't finished yet, and scored a fourth through an excellent piece of skill from the impressive Ward four minutes before the break.

Picking up the ball 20 yards out, he controlled on his chest, turned the defender and smashed a volley past Bartley and into the net.

It was a goal worthy of gracing any game, and there was nothing the keeper could do as confidence seeped from the Citizens' defence.

There was little for WGC to take from a poor first-half performance, and at the break it was purely damage limitation to prevent the result becoming embarrassing.

Yet, they made their task all the more harder 10 minutes into the second half when Rickelle Christian was dismissed for a second yellow following a clumsy tackle on the impressive Drisdale.

Ward grabbed his hat-trick from the resultant free-kick with an easy tap-in to take the score to 5-0 and game was well and truly over.

To their credit, 10-man City shut up shop and if anything looked more solid following the sending off, with captain Richard Teixeira doing his best to rally his shellshocked colleagues.

Jake Parratt worked tirelessly in the middle and Ryan Mattos did his best to make things happen up front, but as the referee brought the game to a close, the Citizens trudged off the pitch in a despondent manner.