PETERSFIELD Hurricanes under-8s entered the Christmas break in fine style by clipping the wings of a useful Fleet Falcons side at Love Lane on Saturday.

Determined Alex Garlant led the way with a fabulous four-goal salvo, including a second-hat-trick of the season inside the first quarter of play.

Revelling in the sticky conditions, Garlant’s persistance and tough tackling paid off when he opened the scoring at the second attempt after his initial shot was saved, doubled his and the Hurricanes’ tally moments later with a deft chip over the keeper with his weaker left foot, and completed his treble by ghosting past three players before dispatching a firm, low shot into the bottom corner.

And despite primarily playing in defence, the eager youngster found himself racing along the Falcons byline late in the final quarter before squeezing the ball inside the goalkeeper’s near post to complete his haul.

Top scorer Taylor Pearce also helped himself to a couple of goals as the Hurricanes laid seige to the shell-shocked Falcons’ goal in the opening stages, picking up a loose ball, racing past his marker and sending a firm right-footed shot past the goalkeeper for his opener before latching onto a through ball moments later and repeating the dose with an unstoppable shot.

At the other end, Hurricanes goalkeeper James Port put in another outstanding display with a string of brave saves and blocks as the Falcons, who hit the post twice early in the second quarter, threatened a comeback on the occasions when his defenders pushed too far up the field and were caught short at the back.

And Port was well backed by another stirring display from Oscar Walker, who was a rock at the back and was badly missed when he left the field of play, leaving his goalkeeper exposed more than once.

Finlay Stafferton was unlucky not to open his goal account for the season, hitting a rasping first-time shot from inside the area after a lovely ball from Luca Baragan that the Falcons keeper somehow scrambled away, while the roving Benjamin Oru was twice put through with a sniff of goal only to be denied.

Baragan, though, was not to be denied as he prodded home his fourth goal in two games since joning the Hurricanes, reacting quickest after his initial shot following a mazy run had been blocked by the busy visiting goalkeeper.

The diminutive Romanian had been played through by a lovely ball from Connor Redpath, who moments earlier had stood his ground and put in a crucial block to concede a corner at the other end.

Petersfield Hurricanes: Port, Oru, Redpath, Stafferton, Walker, Baragan, Garlant, Pearce.