Seaford Town came back from a first half deficit to overcome Montpelier Villa 4-2 at Culver Road. A hat-trick for Callum Connor along with a second half strike from Simon Piper saw Town come away with all three points in Lancing.

With only 2 minutes on the clock, Seaford managed to take the lead with the first chance of the game. A miscued clearance allowed Tyler Capon an effort on goal just inside the area, with Villa 'keeper Sonny Lucas only able to parry the strike towards the onrushing Connor, who turned in from point-blank range.

Having found their feet following the early error, Montpelier Villa found an equaliser in the 10th minute through striker Connor Martin. With Seaford stretched down their left flank, Martin did well to carve out space at the edge of the six-yard box, before steering home under the body of Wester Young.

Seaford's press looked to cause problems for the hosts on several occasions, with Villa managing to evade punishment for a handful of misplaced passes out from the back. At the other end, Seaford's backline had difficulty dealing with the diagonal ball in behind, with Villa left-winger Harley Damario found numerous times in dangerous situations.

MV turned up the attacking intent just after the half hour mark, and went on to take the lead through midfielder Thomas Shelly. An excellent clipped ball in behind Jack Potten provoked Young to come off his line, before bringing down Damario in the area to gift the home side a penalty. Despite initially saving the spot kick, Young could do nothing to prevent Shelly from following in on the rebound to complete a first half turnaround.

Paul Wise's side looked more assured following the restart, and were able to restore parity in the 57th minute courtesy of Simon Piper. After a free-kick was floated into the centre of the Villa box, the ball fell kindly at the feet of Piper, who fired in at Lucas' near post to make it 2-2.

The 10 minutes following the restart saw Seaford create a number of golden opportunities to retake the lead. Alex Saunders side-footed an effort past the post from an inviting angle, minutes before Connor forced Lucas into a fine save to turn his lobbed effort to safety.

Eventually the pressure told for the visitors, with Connor grabbing his second of the afternoon in the 69th minute, finishing astutely from close range following a mix-up amongst the Villa defence to give Seaford their second lead of the match.

Ollie Stevenson had his 'keeper to thank in the 85th minute, after his underweighted back-pass was charged down by Damario inside the Seaford area, yet his effort was kept out firmly by the frame of Young.

With the home side throwing everything forward in the final moments, the away side went on to gain breathing space in the last minute of normal time, after good work from substitute Josh Wright on the break set up Connor on the edge of the area, who swept home for his third and Seaford's fourth of the afternoon.

The hosts were made to play the final few moments with 10 men, after Damario was shown a red card for his part in a late altercation.

STFC:
Wester Young
Matt Simpson
Tiwa Odufuye
James Kendall (off 64')
Toby Potter-Drake
Jack Potten
Ollie Stevenson
Alex Saunders
Tyler Capon (off 70')
Simon Piper (off 64')
Callum Connor (off 90+6)

Subs: Josh Wright (on 70'), Ben Dartnall, Ryan Knight (on 64'), Craig Pooley (on 90+6'), Howard Squires (on 64')