Town’s star shines bright as his four goals decide the match

Brad Pagliaroli sealed a dramatic win for Newbury Town over a chaotic Reading YMCA side.

The prolific number 11 blasted four goals to ultimately decide a thrilling, six-goal spectacle.

Faraday Road was buzzing , with many fans wearing their Newbury Town merchandise to help their club and show their support.

The performance – though strong in many aspects – also showed a little complacency, with player and director of football James O’Doherty saying: “I think we made hard work of it at times.

“We controlled the game well at the start, we looked and felt very comfortable in the game in some challenging weather conditions for both teams.”

“We need to learn to be more clinical as a team – we created plenty of chances, if we take them, the game looks a little different.

“We also know as a team, we lacked a little bit of control in certain periods of the game, especially when they went down to 10 men.

“We know we should be dominating.”

Town controlled the early stages and their pressure added up in a spectacular fashion in the ninth minute.

After a hurried defensive clearance rebounded into open space, the lethal Pagliaroli seized the moment, unleashing a dipping, 30-yard thunderbolt that nestled perfectly into the top left corner, leaving the YMCA keeper grasping at air.

Town’s relentless energy was lead by Ty Driscoll, whose surging runs constantly troubled the visitors’ channels, though a prime chance was agonisingly put wide just three minutes after the opener.

YMCA remained content to hit on the counter and their patience was rewarded in the 19th minute by a momentary lapse in concentration by the Town’s defence, allowing Luke Maze to breeze past two static defender and calmly slot home the equaliser.

The game was now back on and the tensions were high as the visitors captain was cautioned with a yellow card for a robust challenge.

Newbury, however, refused to relent.

They regained the lead in the 32nd minute after a period of sustained offensive pressure.

Town crafted space for the influential Pagliaroli to roll in shot forced a desperate clearance from a YMCA defender, only for the ball to be inadvertently slammed into his own net – Pagliaroli will be sure to claim that one.

This crucial goal saw Town take a 2-1 lead into the interval.

The second half began with the home side looking to put the game to bed, with chaos soon to ensue for the visitors.

Following a powerful, point-blank save from the Reading keeper, the YMCA lost all composure, and had a player sent off for his second yellow car in the 56 minute.

Just four minutes after, Pagliaroli completed his hat-trick with a fantastic touch to take it round the defender and slot it in the bottom left corner.

Remarkably, despite their number disadvantage, YMCA found an immediate response – a sloppy pass-back from Town’s Tom Beal was ruthlessly capitalised upon by YM’s Danny Nicholson to make the score 3-2.

The visitors’ momentum was abruptly stopped when Town’s star man of the game took control.

Pagliaroli didn’t see three goals as enough as the winger sealed his four-goal haul in the 88 minute, latching onto a rebound after his initial sho was parried by the keeper.