FOOTBALL
An Ahmed Kahn hat-trick saw Hawkesbury City start their 2015 campaign in fine style, romping to a 7-0 win over West Ryde Rovers in the first FFA Cup preliminary round.
Hawkesbury’s victory over the Gladesville Hornsby Football Association club sets up an exciting clash with NPL 2 club St George in round two.
Hawkesbury started the brighter at Bensons Lane against West Ryde and did not take long to open the scoring.
Attacking midfielder Evan Daglis scored after 12 minutes before Khan notched his first to give Hawkesbury a comfortable 2-0 lead at the break.
The second half was all the hosts as Khan rounded out his hat-trick while James Mawein (2) and Ben Gough also got on the score sheet in their first competitive hit out of the new season.
The result was encouraging for Hawkesbury who were without a number of players from their first grade squad - unavailable due to work and family commitments.
Hawkesbury open their Football NSW State League 1 season against Western Mariners at David Bertenshaw Field on March 28.
On Sunday, Hawkesbury’s youth teams started their newly-formatted Regional League competition against Granville Rage with a mixed bag of results.
Josh Peterson, Chris Dale, Ben Inns and Ethan Muller all scored as the Hawks under 12s won 4-1.
The under 13s gave up two goals in the final five minutes to go down 4-3 having come from behind twice.
Reece Lowe, Izaac Shah and Christian Garcia scored for Hawkesbury.
Hawkesbury claimed a 3-2 win in the under 14s thanks to a Jai Rogers double and a goal from Brendan Plowman while the under 15s went down 3-1.
Mitch Kocanda gave Hawkesbury a 1-0 lead at the break but Gladesville fought back in the second half to take the three points.
Hawkesbury host Gladesville Ryde Magic in round two on Sunday.
