Thornbury Falcons Under-13s demonstrated why they are top of Division IV by extending their winning run to seven games with an emphatic win over fellow promotion hopefuls Lawrence Weston Colts.

Joe Mawson took the individual scoring honours with a hat-trick and terrorised the the visitors' defence throughout the game.

Thornbury opened their account after just two minutes following a swift counter-attack. Mawson, collecting the ball on the right, played a beautifully-weighted pass into the path of Kieran Jefferies, who beat the advancing keeper to the ball and found the bottom corner of the net.

Straight from the restart, Mawson latched on to a loose pass, ran through several tackles and fired a shot into the side-netting.

Lawrence Weston's first shot at goal came after five minutes, Lewis Bagley's well-struck free-kick flying straight into the arms of Falcons keeper John Mitchell-Skinner.

Shortly afterwards, Lawrence Weston keeper Sam Neil made two brilliant saves in quick succession to prevent the home side from doubling their lead. The first was a brave and athletic block from Jefferies, then he denied Mawson in similar fashion.

Despite Thornbury's early dominance, Lawrence Weston equalised on 10 minutes when a mazy dribble on the edge of the area created enough space for Gerald Pospischil to fire the ball across goal and into the net.

Eight minutes later, another ball over the top of the visitors' defence led to their downfall. This time, Will Bailhache got in behind and, despite two great blocks from Neil, he rolled the ball into the net to restore his side's lead.

However, after another good spell of Thornbury pressure, a piece of magic saw the visitors draw level again 10 minutes before the break. Bagley was gifted the ball on the edge of the area by a poor clearance and, despite having his back to goal, he swivelled and curled a shot just inside a post.

In the lead-up to half-time, both sides had good chances to score but it was Thornbury who eventually seized the initiative with two minutes left. Bailhache won the ball strongly and battled to hold on to it before finding Mawson in acres of space on the right and the Falcons' dangerman took three touches before driving the ball home from 10 yards.

At the other end, it took a fantastic piece of last-ditch defending from Falcons' Andrew Cooper to deny Ryan Harris an equaliser as Thornbury reached half-time 3-2 up. Disaster struck early into the second half for Lawrence Weston when, in sliding out to smother a loose pass, the otherwise excellent Neil misjudged his attempt, leaving the ball behind for Mawson to run on to and roll into the gaping net to make it 4-2.

Thankfully for the visitors, however, Neil's mistake was just a blip and he was soon back to his best, making a number of flying saves and brave blocks to keep his side within reach of their opponents.

But Neil could do nothing about Thornbury's fifth goal. Mawson picked up the ball on the halfway line and used his explosive pace to power into the box where he dropped his shoulder, nipped the ball around the sprawling Neil and calmly completed his hat-trick.

Three minutes later, Tom Trotman's delightful pass sent Mawson clean through and he carried the ball into the box before unselfishly squaring it to Mitch Bourton for the easiest of tap-ins to extend Thornbury's lead to 6-2.

Midway through the half, Lawrence Weston wasted a glorious opportunity to pull one back.

Kieon Waugh found Pospischil, who flashed a shot across goal from the edge of the area. The ball appeared to be going harmlessly wide until Daniel Power suddently appeared at the back post, only to somehow blaze the ball high over the crossbar from three yards.

Eight minutes later, Thornbury were again the grateful recipients of a goalkeeping error which extended their lead to 7-2. This time a scuffed goal kick fell straight to Trotman, who took the ball to the edge of the area before cheekily lobbing the keeper.

Despite the scoreline, Lawrence Weston kept battling. Jaxson Marsh put in a particularly solid shift at the back, while Neil performed heroics in goal. Futher forward, Pospischil and Harris always looked dangerous when in possession but, unlike their hosts, they couldn't find an end-product.

With two minutes remaining, however, they grabbed a deserved consolation goal. Sloppy defending allowed Shane Wilson to find Bagley unmarked on the penalty spot and the striker dispatched the ball into the roof of the net.

Thornbury Falcons: John Mitchell-Skinner, Andrew Cooper, Alex Burt, Alex Mizen, Will Garbett, Conor Grehan, Will Bailhache, Charlie Wilcox, Josh Goodwin, Kieran Jefferies, Joe Mawson, Mitch Bourton, Tom Trotman.

Lawrence Weston: Sam Neil, Connor Godfrey, Shane Wilson, Lewis Bagley, Daniel Power, Bradley Power, Rikki Bell, Ryan Harris, Gerald Pospischil, Nathan Curry, Keiran Ware, Kieon Waugh, Jaxson Marsh.

Joe Mawson (Thornbury Falcons): Used his pace to great effect, battled hard and capped off a marvellous performance with a well-deserved hat-trick.