East Cowes Victoria beat Romsey Town by 7 goals on Tuesday evening to return to the top of Wessex Division 1.
The Victorians were close to full strength with only keeper Alex Ram (injury) and Caleb Neale (holiday) absent from the matchday squad.
Romsey began well when a poor pass presented the opportunity to lob Vics keeper Fraser Law, who was off his line, but Law recovered to catch the ball.
However, for the rest of the half and the game, Vics were in the ascendency.
The 1st goal came in the 4th minute when Scott Jones scrambled the ball into the Romsey net after Zak Sullivan had provided the delivery (1-0).
Vics then had a succession of chances to further extend their lead, with Josh Neale shooting at Romsey keeper Bartram, Jordan Chapman sending a volley just past the post, and Jacob Reynolds having a shot parried by Bartram.
In the 20th minute, Jones got the ball in the net for a 2nd time but had the goal disallowed for an apparent foul on the keeper, the first in a series of bizarre decisions by the referee.
2 minutes later, Scott Jones bagged his brace by slotting the ball into the corner of the goal after being set up by Toby Snow (2-0).
In the 38th minute, the referee made a further questionable decision after Scott Jones had been brought down by the last man when through on goal but only gave a yellow card for the offence.
Shortly before half time, Josh Neale was harshly yellow carded for a foul on Bartram when challenging for the ball.
The half ended with a great save from a Romsey free kick by Fraser Law.
Half time: East Cowes Victoria 2-0 Romsey Town
Vics began the 2nd half by welcoming new signing Liam Triggs onto the pitch to replace Elliot Wheeler. A few minutes later, Jacob Reynolds was forced off injured, to be replaced by Aedan Coode.
Coode soon proved his worth by setting up Josh Neale to fire the ball into the roof of the net (3-0).
Neale was unlucky not to have added to his tally on the hour mark when he was denied by the upright.
Coode then came off the pitch injured by a horror tackle that went unpunished, with his place taken by Charlie Hart.
Neale bagged his brace in the 75th, sitting down Bartram before slotting the ball home (4-0)
Manager Alex Smith made a further inspired substitution, with Adam Voller coming on for Scott Jones.
Neale grabbed his hat trick 10 minutes from full time with a bullet header after being set up by Rafferty Boyd-Kerr (5-0).
The final few minutes belonged to substitute Adam Voller. First, he weaved his way in and around the penalty area before slotting the ball into an empty goal (6-0). Then, he ran through a mass of tired defenders before dispatching the ball into the corner of the goal (7-0).
Full time: East Cowes Victoria 7-0 Romsey Town
East Cowes Victoria: Law, Snow, Yates, Newbold (c), Wheeler, Sullivan, CFhapman, Boyd-Kerr, Jones, Reynolds, J. Neale Subs (all used): Voller, Hart, Coode, Kirby, Triggs
Man-of-the match: Josh Neale:
Victory for the Victorians leaves the East Cowes side 1st in Wessex Division 1, with 1 point more than the sides in the 2nd and 3rd spots: Alresford Town and Frimley Green
Gallery below:
