HASLEMERE seconds were powerless to stop in-form Alton from making it six wins on the trot in Hampshire 2 on Saturday.

The visitors knew they had to be on top of their game to prevent Alton’s fine form continuing, but with only one place and three points separating the two sides, it was certainly all to play for.

The home side began with the bulk of the possession and made it hard for Haslemere to get any time on the ball as they moved it around the back smoothly, looking for openings to exploit.

And it took Alton barely more than five minutes to score their first goal of the game as their steady pressure paid off. Liam Cave broke into the circle and shot goalward. His shot was blocked by the Haslemere goalkeeper but he had the presence of mind to pick up the rebound and square the ball to Luke Bottomley, who made no mistake.

Haslemere were looking shaky to say the least as from the restart several misplaced passes from the visitors allowed Alton to regain possession easily and drive forward. Soon enough this pressure saw Alton pick up their second goal after forward Josh Davidson, on his first-team debut, broke through the middle of the Haslemere defence and fired off a shot that was tapped over the line by Sam Steel to double Alton’s lead.

There were some warning signs for Alton, with several breaks catching the home side off guard and they found themselves defending several penalty corners, but Haslemere’s efforts were easily dealt with by the defence, much to the visitors’ frustration.

And Alton made Haslemere pay with two more quick goals. Steel picked up his second of the game from a tight angle, beating the goalkeeper on his near post, before Davidson punished the visitors’ defence by intercepting a pass round the back and making no mistake as he calmly slid the ball under the oncoming Haslemere keeper.

With only a few minutes left in the half Alton made it 5-0 when Steel sealed his hat-trick after Haslemere failed to clear their lines.

Alton were confident but determined not to let their guard down at the start of the second half, and possession seemed to be the key as the Alton defensive back line of Scott Reading, Dan Trim, Andy Cooper and Tom Pate kept the ball moving quickly to make it hard for Haslemere to find a way into the game.

At the other end, Alton were finding it much harder to find attacking channels as the visitors seemed to have learned from their mistakes of the first half, putting everything they had behind the ball.

That said, Alton were still the dominant side and with less than ten minutes to go Alton made it 6-0 with Davidson picking up his second after being fed a pass from Steel, allowing the young striker to cap off another great win for Alton and put them up to fourth place in the league.