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Oldham 4 Cheltenham Town 0

Fred Austin
23/ 8/2008

A SUPERB hat-trick inside 17 minutes from Lee Hughes fired Oldham to the top of League One.

The 31-year-old striker put his side in front in the 45th minute after they had thrown away a host of chances.

But Hughes made no mistake when he came up with an explosive finish following a defence-splitting pass from strike partner Lewis Alessandra.

Hughes grabbed his second goal after 50 minutes, a deep cross to the back post from full back Kelvin Lomax was knocked back by veteran Andy Liddell and Hughes confidently swept the ball home from six yards.

His hat-trick arrived in the 62nd minute, this time right back Neal Eardley was the provider with a well-aimed cross and Hughers headed in from three yards.

Earlier, both the lively Hughes and busy midfielder Danny Whitaker had hit a post as the home side completely dominated.

The closest Cheltenham, came to a reply was in the 58th minute when Latics keeper Mark Crossley did well to keep out a close range effort from Jennison Myrie-Williams.

Whitaker completed the rout with a fourth goal from 20 yards after being set up by substitute Chris O'Grady.

On-fire Oldham have now scored 10 goals in three league games and have kept two clean sheets.