Lamont hits hat trick heights

Lamont opened his account with barely 30 seconds on the clock when he burst through the visitors’ ranks and fired passed Robert Robinson.

It took Rangers the entire first half to get over the shock of the early goal, but they went in all square at half time when sub Rory McGilloway was allowed to travel a long distance with the ball and he made no mistake from inside the box.

Lamont almost repeated his first half trick when he shaved Robinson’s post just after the restart but he went one better on 55 minutes when he got onto the end of a good cross and scored his second.

It didn’t take Carrick long to respond and Adam Dick levelled things up again five minutes later when he scored direct from a corner kick.

Lamont completed his hat trick on 61 minutes when Robinson came rushing out of his goals and made a hash of his attempted header and leaving the centre forward with an easy lob into the empty net.

Robinson made up for his earlier error when he somehow prevented Lee Forgrave from putting the home side 4-2 up when he somehow got a fingertip to a goal bound effort.

Kyle Owens hauled the visitors back on level terms once again on 82 minutes when he headed home from another corner.

With the game looking as if it was going to finish all square Tobermore’s full back, Ryan Winton, somehow found himself inside the Carrick box and just as he was about to shoot he was tripped and referee Peter McGrath had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot.

Danny Gardner smashed home the spot kick to give Tobermore the win and much needed three points.

Tobermore United: W. Hassan, R. Winton, J. Neill, K. Steele, D. Gardner, S. Heneghan, L. Forgrave,, R. McAuley, N. Lamont, R. Doherty, D. McClements, Subs: D. Stewart, C. McKenna, K. Lynch.

Next up for Tobermore is Bangor FC at Fortwilliam Park this Saturday at 2pm and it is probably an even more important game than last Saturday’s win over Carrick as Bangor are in a similar position to the Reds with only one win in 11 games - it’s a game that neither club will want to lose.

Tobermore Mini Soccer Centre sessions continue in Maghera Recreation Centre every Saturday morning from 10am until 11am.

Players as usual should come along kitted out ready to play with shin guards and trainers or boots, weather permitting.

The fun sessions are supervised by IFA accredited coaches and are open to all boys and girls of primary school age.