Having played a pivotal part in last weeks win over Chertsey Town, new signing Malachi Thomas took centre stage again, with a hat-trick and an excellent all round performance in the 3-1 win over Hanworth Villa on Saturday, writes Gary Brigden.

In a first half with very few chances and spoilt by a swirling wind, Thomas had already seen a low drive superbly saved by Alex Partridge, before he struck five minutes before the break, following good work by Matty Auletta and debutant Jamil Okai.

Villa started the second half brightly and put us under some pressure, and almost forced an equaliser on the hour, when a flick on by Levi King from a free kick was flicked over Michael Eacott, but hooked cleared by Owen Davies.

Almost immediately it was 2-0, Matt Farrell found Rory Lewis on the right and his low cross was deflected into the path of Thomas who drilled home.

Both sides continued to push, and Villa were back in the game on 72 minutes, when a drive from the edge of the area was half saved by Eacott, and forced home setting up a tense last twenty minutes.

Changes were made to personnel, with us replacing the hard-working Jamil Okai with Marvin Roberts, and with five minutes remaining the result was sealed. Thomas picked up the ball on the left, turned Adam Baigent and Jermaine Queensborough left and right before firing low beyond Partridge to seal the win.

There was still time for Darren Salmon to introduce youngsters Mason Seagroatt and Gus Lukuni, the latter for debut, as we saw out the time and picked up a valuable three points.

Rovers now host Guildford City on Saturday, January 6 for another crucial game.