Syers makes Pompey suffer with hat-trick

league two

Midfielder Dave Syers struck a hat-trick as in-form Scunthorpe thrashed Portsmouth 5-1 to move level on 58 points with leaders Chesterfield, who suffered a surprise defeat at Wycombe Wanderers.

Syers struck in the sixth, 43rd and 55th minutes while Sam Winnall and Paddy Madden were also on the score sheet for Scunthorpe, Portsmouth’s lone reply coming through Michael Drennan four minutes from the end.

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It was Scunthorpe’s biggest win of the season and stretched their unbeaten run to 16 games.

It also saw them climb up alongside Chesterfield after the Spireites were beaten 1-0 at third-bottom Wycombe.

Max Kretzschmar’s first-half penalty gave the Chairboys their first victory at Adams Park since mid-October.

Aside from Scunthorpe there was only one other side in the top 13 to pick up a victory this weekend, Rochdale.

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They moved up to third spot with a 1-0 triumph at Exeter, Jamie Allen netting the clincher on the stroke of half-time to help his side leapfrog above Oxford, who were held 1-1 at Morecambe.

Oxford had looked on course for the win thanks to veteran striker David Connolly’s 13th-minute goal but they were denied by a stoppage-time equaliser from Morecambe defender Robbie Threlfall.

The other three teams in the play-off places managed just one point between them, with fifth-placed Fleetwood going down to a 31st-minute goal from Matt Rhead at Mansfield while Burton, in sixth, lost to Bristol Rovers on Friday night.

Immediately below seventh-placed Southend, both Newport and Hartlepool were beaten.

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A first-half goal from Ashley Vincent earned Cheltenham a 1-0 win at Newport – their first victory since Boxing Day – while Hartlepool crashed to a 2-0 defeat at Northampton.

Mathias Kouo-Doumbe and Brennan Dickenson struck either side of the break for the Cobblers, who remain bottom but are now level on 29 points with 23rd-placed Torquay.

Torquay slumped to a third straight defeat after Accrington substitute Kal Naismith scored a superb 80th-minute winner for his side in a 1-0 success.