Former Blues defender Tommy Smith scored the first hat-trick of his career, grabbing the third in the fourth minute of injury time, to see Bury Town to a 4-3 victory over Leiston at Ram Meadow this afternoon.

Smith, 36, joined the West Suffolk club, who are managed by his one-time Portman Road teammate Cole Skuse, in the summer.

The central defender bagged his first of the afternoon on 14 to put his side two goals in front, then added a second on the hour to restore Bury’s lead at 3-2.

Leiston hit back again to level at 3-3 before Smith extended his team’s winning start to their Southern Premier League Central Division season to six matches in the dying seconds.

“I scored two for Ipswich once upon a time [in a 4-0 home victory over Middlesbrough in February 2013], but never a hat-trick,” he told Suffolk News.

“It’s brilliant. Never in my wildest dreams would I think as a centre-back that I’m going to score a hat-trick, but to do it in that fashion as well with our fans behind the goal against a local rival, what a feeling.”

For Town, New Zealand international Smith scored 23 goals in 251 starts and 17 sub appearances between 2008 and 2018.

Photo: Action Images via Reuters