19-year-old Archie Thurston wrote himself into the Pershore Town history books on Saturday, bagging his first senior hat trick against Lydney Town, and he’s already claimed the match ball as his new “bedside ornament.”

Archie spent last season at Bromsgrove Sporting U21s, where he made his first team debut against Bishops Stortford, but he’s now returned to Pershore determined to continue his journey in men’s football (and maybe to finally stop his dad telling him to “shoot more”). He’s no stranger to the club either, having come through Pershore Town U18s as a shining product of the player pathway.

He opened the scoring in the 30th minute after latching onto a Martin Fowler through ball , Martin has since claimed it was “definitely intentional.” Just three minutes later, Archie coolly doubled his tally from 10 yards after neat build-up play out wide, though he insists it looked better than it probably did.

Pershore controlled much of the game with goalkeeper Joe Cunneen so untroubled that, rumour has it, he started planning his Sunday roast during the second half.

Archie had to wait until the 70th minute to complete his hat trick from the penalty spot, though he did briefly toy with the idea of a “Panenka” before wisely deciding otherwise. Joel Hill then wrapped things up in the 86th minute to make sure Archie didn’t hog all the headlines.

Well Done Archie, we hope to be writing more of these for you!!