Nat’s the man as the goals flow for Harborough

Nat Ansu has scored an incredible nine goals in his last two games for Harborough Town

The Bees booked themselves a trip to Lye Town in the first qualifying round of the Emirates FA Cup on September 3 after they beat Bottesford Town 6-1 in the preliminary round at the weekend.

And they followed that up in devastating fashion on Tuesday night as Mitch Austin’s team registered their first win at Step 4 by hammering Yaxley 9-1 at the Harborough Town Community Ground.

The Bees produced a sensational first half as they went 8-0 up and Ansu was the star of the week as he scored four in Saturday’s success before hitting five in the demolition of Yaxley.

The big win has moved Harborough up to 10th place in the Northern Premier League Midlands ahead of a bank holiday weekend double-header, which sees them head to Shepshed Dynamo on Saturday before they host Daventry Town on Monday.

“It was an unbelievable first half, the best we have had since I have been here,” boss Austin said as he reflected on Tuesday’s victory.

“I think what we have learnt over the first couple of games against the top sides (Halesowen Town and Stamford) is how clinical you need to be and every chance we had we seemed to put away, which is very pleasing.

“I was really impressed with everybody and it was good to get the first three points at Step 4 for this club.

“We won’t get carried away. We have to keep our heads down and keep working hard and we have some tough fixtures coming up with Shepshed on Saturday and Daventry on Monday.”

Austin reserved special praise for Ansu after his return of nine goals in two games and added: “Nat is a natural goalscorer with blistering pace and when he believes in himself, he’s a great striker who will score plenty of goals

He’s got four on Saturday and five on Tuesday and that doesn’t happen by a fluke.

That’s someone who is working extremely hard and who is fully invested in Harborough Town Football Club and I thought he was exceptional.”

The FA Vase takes centre stage for Lutterworth Town and Lutterworth Athletic this weekend.

The Swifts are on the road in the first qualifying round as they head to Harrowby United on Saturday while Athletic have home advantage against Melton Town.

The Swifts go into their clash on the back of a 2-0 home defeat to GNG Oadby Town in the United Counties League Premier Division South last weekend.

Athletic, meanwhile, bounced back from a 2-1 defeat at Sileby Rangers last Friday by securing a point in a 1-1 draw at Rushden & Higham United in the Spartan South Midlands League Division One on Tuesday night.