LOUIS Bridges scored a hat-trick as Earlswood Town played out a remarkable 5-5 draw with Bolehall Swifts in their first home game of the season.
Bridges opened the scoring early on and put the Earls ahead two further times as he completed his hat-trick with Dan Elwell and substitute Jamie Hyland also on target for the Earls in a 10-goal thriller at the Pavilions.
And the result means Earlswood sit fourth in the Midland Football League Division Two table after two fixtures.
The Earls took the lead on seven minutes when a goalkeeping error allowed Bridges to tap the ball into an empty net.
And summer signing Elwell soon made it two with a fine header from a cross from the right to score his first goal for the club.
However, Bolehall halved the deficit when Toby Hulland struck on the half-hour mark before Nick Gant levelled for the visitors with a deflected shot from the edge of the penalty area.
The home side restored their lead before half time as Bridges grabbed his second of the game with an excellent finish from distance.
Swifts were level once again on 65 minutes as Dave Yonwin calmly lifted the ball over Earls goalkeeper Dan Dawson
Earlswood led for a third time on 71 minutes when Bridges completed his treble after Tom Kinsey selflessly squared the ball to his skipper for a tap in.
However, Bolehall refused to go away and were level on 74 minutes as Yonwin scored his second of the match.
The Earls took the lead for a fourth time as substitute Hyland marked his debut with a goal, driving the ball home from Brad Littlehales’ pass.
There was still time for a 10th and final goal as Bolehall’s Tom Weale found the net with a long range effort on 83 minutes while Elwell saw red for the Earls in injury time after picking up two bookings to round off a frantic encounter.
Earlswood are next in action at home to Coventrians on Saturday, August 12 with kick-off at 3pm at The Pavilions.
