Tudors crush St Margaretsbury with nine-goal rout in the Herts Senior Cup

The North Herts outfit must be sick of the sight of the Tudors as their last three meetings have seen them concede 22 goals, with 13 coming in two cup ties last season.

The home side opened the scoring after 16 minutes when Davy Edmee directed a James Potton effort into his own net for, what was to be the first of three own goals on the night.

Jamal Lowe made it two after 22 minutes, latching on to a good through ball from Potton, turning and slotting home past Simon Dent in the Saints goal.

A rare break by the visitors was thwarted by Moussa Diarra just after the half hour but this was to be their last real opportunity of the half.

As Hemel poured forward, Zack Reynolds almost made it three when he created some space in the box but saw his shot well saved by Dent.

Just before the break, skipper for the night Daniel Talbot crashed home a free-kick that left Dent rooted to the spot to give the home side a 3-0 half-time lead.

At the start of the second period, things got worse for St Margaretsbury when Charlie Edwards was given a red card for a terrible challenge on Kyle Connolly.

The resulting free-kick was driven into the box and was completely missed by Lowe but found Moussa Diarra’s thigh which directed the ball past the unfortunate keeper to make it four.

It was now a case of how many, with some desperate defending by the visitors, but it was all vain as Connor Scully completely miscued a clearance on the edge of the box, the ball flying high up into the night sky and back towards his own goal.

Dent tried to get a hand to it but the ball ended up in the back of the net for one of the most bizzare own goals ever seen at Vauxhall Road.

The Tudors were now rampant and Reynolds fed Lowe who fired home for his second of the night to make it 6-0.

Matt Saunders then drove down the right, before crossing to an unmarked Luke Allen who made it seven before a third own goal conceded by the unfortunate Ed Thorey made it 8-0; his back pass hitting a divot, which took it past Dent’s foot as he tried to clear and the keeper could only watch as it rolled agonisingly just inside the post.

The scoring was completed in the 83rd minute when the impressive Allen combined well with Dennis Oli to fire home from a tight angle.

Hemel’s joint manager praised his team for a thoroughly professional night’s work and was pleased with the work rate and effort shown by all the players.

Hemel Hempstead Town: 1: May 2: Asafu-Adjaye (12: King) 3: Connolly (14: Oli) 4: Reynolds 5: Johnson 6: Diarra 7: Talbot © (16: Allen) 8: Daly 9 : Lowe 10: Saunders 11: Potton. Subs not used 15: Hawkins 22: Walker

St Margaretsbury 1: Dent 2: Sharman © 3: Horey 4: Edwards (red) 5: Maybury 6: Wylie 7: Edmee( 17: Spicer) 8: Scully (14: Charles) 9: Summers 10: Mitchell 11: Roberts (15: Light). Subs not used 12: Bartlett 16: Lillis.

Man of the Match : Wes Daly

Attendance 116