The players congratulate Judge

ALAN Judge hit a first half hat-tick as Rovers' under 18s defeated Crewe Alexandra 5-1 at Brockhall this morning.

The Irishman struck a penalty, a free-kick and a goal from close-range as Rovers romped to a comfortable home win.

It was game on when Crewe pulled a goal back five minutes after the restart, but in the end Rovers' pressure told and Tsoumou and O'Keefe netted late goals.

Those arriving late down at the Academy will undoubtedly have missed the opening goal as Rovers netted from their kick-off. The ball was played forward to Jamie Clarke and he nodded onto strike partner Juvhel Tsoumou who controlled the ball with one foot only to see his standing leg taken for a clear penalty.

Captain Alan Judge stepped up to send the Crewe goalkeeper the wrong way with a calm side-footed effort inside 30 seconds.

Clarke nearly doubled the lead for the home side on five minutes, Tsoumou played the ball out to the left for Clarke and the Rovers striker cut in and hit a sweet right-foot shot that flew just over the far corner of post and bar.

But Crewe weren't without their chances in the opening period, goalkeeper Andreas Arestidou had to back-pedal to tip over his own bar, then from another move the Rovers stopper had to dive to his right to push an effort around the post - a fine save.

Rovers were dealt a blow on 20 minutes when Jamie Clarke limped off after a crunching 50/50 challenge, that meant a shuffle with Alan Judge moving from midfield to centre forward and he soon grabbed his and Rovers' second of the game.

Juvhel Tsoumou got amongst the goals again

In a swift move Kevin Pezzoni did well to turn his man to shift the ball down the left, Junior Dadson took the ball into the area and onto Tsoumou who cleverly fed in Judge for him to lift the ball over the advancing 'keeper and into the back of the net.

Crewe had defeated Rovers 2-0 earlier in the season but there was never going to be a repeat of that today, and the hat-trick was completed for Judge on 35 minutes when his free-kick from the left flew over everyone and nestled low into the back of the net to give Rovers a comfortable half-time lead.

Credit to Crewe they didn't give up and a double change at half-time paid immediate dividends when Leitch-Smith capitalised on some hesitant Rovers defending to score from close range five minutes after the break.

Then followed a period where neither side threatened with no shot on goal registered until the 76 minute when Andy Haworth's effort from just inside the area was well saved, but as the game drew to a close Rovers grew stronger, threatening from a series of corner kicks.

Juvhel Tsoumou impressed in only his second game for the under 18s and his hard work was rewarded on 88 minutes when his low drive went through the 'keeper, then with just seconds remaining on the clock Haworth fed in Josh O'Keefe who found the bottom corner of the net with a sweet drive.

ROVERS: Arestidou, Bateson, Winnard, Pezzoni, Wille, Haworth, Judge (c), O'Keefe, Dadson, Clarke (sub O'Connor 19 mins (sub Keita 59 mins)), Tsoumou. Subs Not used: Paterson, Somodi, Kavanagh.