As Spartans midfielder Craig Hubbard completed his first half hat-trick at Skelmersdale United he had club statisticians scrambling to the record books. Remarkably the former West Auckland and Bedlington Terriers man is only the fifth player in Spartans history and the first since New Years Day 1958 to have scored a league hat-trick and ended up on the losing side. The full list is below:
21 January 1933 North Eastern League Middlesbrough Reserves (away) 3-4 Burn
23 February 1946 North East Combination Newburn (away) 5-6 Barber
30 October 1954 North Eastern League Carlisle United Reserves (away) 3-5 Hogg
1 January 1958 North Eastern League Ashington (away) 3-4 Mason
12 October 2013 Evo-Stik NPL Skelmersdale United (away) 3-4 Hubbard
However there is a slightly more recent Spartans player who has achieved the rather unwanted feat. Striker Glen Robson hit the net three times in the 3-5 away FA Cup defeat at Leigh RMI in September 1999.
Hubbard’s treble is the first by a Spartans player since Paul Brayson struck a hat-trick away at Vauxhall Motors in March 2011 as Mick Tait’s side ran out 6-2 winners in what was Spartans 200th Conference North fixture. At Northern Premier League level current Spartan Robbie Dale was the last to hit a treble in the 3-0 away win at Radcliffe Borough in March 2006.
It may be unusual for a midfielder to hit a hat-trick but there are two recent examples. The last Spartans midfielder to score a hat-trick was Stephen Turnbull as he led the way in a Northumberland Senior Cup Quarter Final win at North Shields in November 2010. That was preceded by Michael Tait’s treble in the 7-1 FA Cup demolition of Ossett Albion in September 2009.
Incredibly Hubbard’s fifth minute equaliser at Skelmersdale on Saturday was the first league goal scored by a Spartans player in the first half this season since Robbie Dale’s free kick at home to Worksop Town on 24th August. That is a run of approximately 960 minutes.