JOE Haines celebrated his 250th appearance for Lichfield City with a superb brace as they beat ten-man Atherstone Town 4-1.
James Wilcock and Jack Edwards also got on the scoresheet, as Ivor Green’s men rounded off their festive home double-header with three more points to stay top of the Midland Football League Premier Division.
Haines nodded home the opener five minutes in after Callum Rudd’s long throw found him unmarked at the back post.
Wilcock went narrowly wide seven minutes later, but finally hit his target in the 18th minute with a powerful strike from the edge of the area.
Haines struck the back of the net again with a thunderous volley inside the box, but was adjudged to be offside.
But the linesman couldn’t deny the Lichfield veteran his second though as he met Jack Edwards’ corner and fired past Finn Osborn on the half-hour.
Atherstone pulled one back in the 34th minute as Jack Wells finished off a melee in the area, but Edwards turned and let fly from 18 yards to make it 4-1 just before the break.
The second half proved a struggle for both sides as the fog thickened on a murky afternoon at the Trade Tyre Community Stadium.
But the referee was able to see an off-the-ball incident between Jamie Elkes and Lewis Collins clearly enough, as the latter was shown red with 25 minutes to go.
Haines came close to completing his hat-trick late on, but his effort just missed its mark, while Atherstone also struck the post in the 80th minute.
The scoreline remained 4-1 at full-time though as City made it back-to-back wins in the league.
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