Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division South

Taunton Town 7, Harrow Borough 0

TAUNTON Town’s opponents Harrow Borough received three Christmas cards of a red variety as the Peacocks eased to their seventh victory in a row against eight men on a bizarre afternoon.

Harrow had three players sent off in an action-packed first half, which also saw Ed Palmer find the net with a free-kick from inside his own half after Andrew Neal had opened the scoring.

An own goal, Matt Buse, Neal, Matt Wright and Ryan Brett added further goals after the interval as Taunton made their sizable numerical advantage pay in driving rain against their beleaguered visitors.

Given the final score it would be easy to forget that for 20 minutes this was a close, if scrappy, encounter between two in-form sides looking to strengthen their promotion chances.

Wright came closest with an acrobatic overhead kick which was well tipped over by Hafed Al-Droubi but there was little else to write home about in the early stages and the game looked set to be decided by the odd goal either way.

That was until, in the 20th minute, Lewis Hall and Mitchal Gough came together after a challenge. Play moved on but the referee halted it to show Gough a red card for an alleged headbutt in the off the ball incident.

Even against 10 men the outcome was far from conclusive. Al-Droubi was called into action again to keep out Palmer’s header, but Taunton were beginning to grow frustrated at their inability to make inroads.

The 10 men then became nine on 38 minutes, however, when George Fenton lunged into Ryan Brett as the midfielder broke away over the halfway line.

The referee had no hesitation in showing his second straight red of the afternoon and this time Taunton did make their visitors pay, Andrew Neal latching on to Wright’s flick-on and slotting home after rounding the goalkeeper on 44 minutes.

What was going through Anthony O’Connor’s mind when he then decided to lunge over the top of the ball into Shane White is anyone’s guess, but the Harrow frontman left the referee with little option but to brandish his third red card of a baffling first half.

In what hadn’t been a particularly dirty game, three moments of madness left the visitors down to eight men within 45 minutes and from then on it was simply a matter of how many Taunton would score.

They got their second in spectacular fashion as the half took another odd twist. Palmer fired a free-kick forward from inside his own half, the wind caught it and took it over Al-Droubi into the top corner as Taunton took a two-goal lead into the interval.

Harrow’s afternoon went from bad to worse upon the restart as Ryan Brett’s corner struck a luckless Mark McLeod and flew into the net for Taunton’s third.

Matt Buse added a fourth on 55 minutes before Neal notched his second, slotting home from close range after Buse’s effort had been spilled.

Wright, meanwhile, was on a personal conquest to add his name to the scoresheet and, having seen a couple of headers miss the target, scored Taunton’s sixth when he slotted home Craig Veal’s cutback.

Ryan Brett put the icing on the Peacocks’ cake with five minutes to play, curling a peach of a free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards out.

To their credit, the visitors didn’t give up in the driving rain and their eight men battled valiantly until the full-time whistle. Those that remained on the pitch may have had some choice words for their teammates who failed to see it through to the conclusion.

For Taunton, this was another welcome three points complete with a boost to the goal difference which could be crucial come the end of the season.

Next up for the Peacocks is a trip to Hartley Wintney next Saturday.

Taunton Town: Lloyd Irish, Shane White (Craig Veal 51), Lewis Hall, Keith Emmerson, Ed Palmer, Matt Buse (Harry Gardner 73), Ollie Chamberlain (Douglas Camilo 73), Ryan Brett, Matt Wright (c), Josh Nelmes, Andrew Neal.

Attendance: 561