On-loan striker Billy Clarke scored a hat-trick on his debut for Northampton as the Cobblers defeated Crewe 5-1 at Sixfields. Clarke netted his opening goal within two minutes of the start of his spell with the League One side.

The Irish U21 striker broke several Northampton records including the fastest goal scored by a Cobblers' debutant and is the first debutant to have netted a hat-trick since Cliff Holton against Crystal Palace in 1961.

Clarke drove in a rebound to score his first, nodded in from close range for his second in the 55th minute, then completed his treble with a penalty on 70.

Cobblers manager Stuart Gray was gushing in his praise for the Town frontman: "It was fantastic for Billy to get his hat-trick and he gave us a great start to the game with a goal in the first couple of minutes.

"That was good, but I thought the quality of his second goal was fantastic. The movement was good, Billy gambled and his awareness to get on the end of Adebayo Akinfenwa's header created the goal. Billy put in a first class performance and he can be very pleased.

"We have been creating chances in recent weeks but not taking them. Billy is the sort of striker who can and will score goals from within the six-yard box and this was a great start to his spell here."

Elsewhere, Chris Casement made his second appearance for Wycombe as they lost 3-1 at Bournemouth and Jordan Rhodes made his debut and played the full 90 minutes as Brentford lost 2-0 at Macclesfield.

Richard Naylor made his home debut for Leeds as his hometown club beat Peterborough 3-1 at Elland Road, Kurt Robinson was in the Rushden side which drew 2-2 at home to Forest Green and Jaime Peters came on as an 84th minute sub to make his debut for Gillingham as the Kent side won 1-0 at home to Exeter, former Town academy player Adam Miller scoring the goal.

Photo: Action Images

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