A Tom Bath hat-trick powered Exmouth Town to a fantastic 4-0 win against Bashley at the Veho Community Stadium.

After going down to ten men following Karl Riddell’s first half red card, Town ended the half in front thanks to a superb Ollie Knowles strike.

The sides were levelled up when Stephen Walker received his second yellow card, and after a Frankie Phillips penalty save, the away side punished the Bash with three Bath goals to make it three consecutive away wins.

Knowles gave Bashley a tease of what was to come after ten minutes when he forced Mack Allan into a wonderful stop to deny his goalbound effort.

Exmouth could have gone a goal up moments later, when they capitalised on some sloppy possession from the hosts, as Callum Shipton drove an effort towards goal which just missed the foot of Bath and went wide.

Bashley were comfortable on the ball, but it was not sticking up front despite some good play in the middle of midfield.

It looked like the momentum was bound to change as Phillips was forced into a great save from Lewis Ross, but amidst all of that, Riddell was given his marching orders for dissent.

However, the next big moment of the game went the way of visitors, when Isaac McCue recovered a free-kick on the left hand side, before laying it off to Knowles, who lashed it into the back of the net.

With ten men behind the ball, it was understandable that the hosts started to build their way into it, with a cross from Luke Delaney giving Town a fright, but Samuel Gadsby couldn’t quite reach it.

Delaney would have a superb chance to level it up just before half time, when a clever free-kick routine led to the midfielder curling the ball towards goal and striking the bar, with the help of a Phillips fingertip.

The playing field was evened up following a collision between captain Walker, and Phillips, where the captain ‘left one on’ the young shot-stopper following a free-kick, and after protests from Town, he received his second yellow, followed by a red card.

That didn’t affect the Bash, who burst forward through Connor Whiteley, who was fouled by Ben Griffith and the referee duly pointed to the spot.

The stand-in captain stepped up to take the penalty he won, but the Exeter City loanee was not willing to give up a second successive clean sheet, and he saved the spot-kick onto the post, before it was subsequently cleared.

That was the kick that Exmouth needed, and six minutes later, a long ball would find McCue, and he would pick out Bath, whose excellent finish flew into the bottom corner.

He should have had a second goal with 15 to go, as Griffith played him in on goal, but the striker lost his footing and could not recover in time to keep a hold of the ball.

That would not matter for much longer, as Bath would once again be on the end of a cross from the left-side, following some excellent link-up play between Griffith, McCue and Cann, with the latter passing it into the striker, who made it three in two games. 

It must be mentioned that Exmouth were excellent at the back, and much like last Saturday, limited the opponents to shots from outside the box, with Knowles and Mike Landricombe imperious at the back.

Tom Bath would put the cherry on top and bring home the match ball, as McCue made it three assists when he once again squared it to the striker who made it four from close range.

It was a perfect away performance from Town, who on a few occasions could have seen that result go the other way, they stuck to the game plan and took their chances when needed.

They will need to take that desire into this Saturday when they welcome Shaftesbury to the Complete Infrastructure Stadium.

LINE-UP: Phillips, Belsten, Cann, Landricombe, Riddell (Sent off, 27), Knowles, Griffith (Morison, 85), Shipton, High (Iseguan, 18), McCue, Bath (Rowe, 90).

SUBS NOT USED: Slater.