Hero Hardie inspires Aston Villa to opening day success

Four goals from Ben Hardie inspired Aston Villa to a comfortable opening day win against East Kilbride YM.

It was a cagey affair in the first half an hour with East Kilbride being more dominant in possession, however overall Aston villa where just too strong for the opposition on the day.

Chances came few and far between and it wasn’t until the just after the half hour mark minute when Aston Villa were presented with a real chance.

A good ball from Daniel McAlinden fell to the feet of Ben Hardie who had his shot destined for the bottom right hand corner saved by East Kilbride goalkeeper Aidan Smith.

This was the beginning of a manic four minutes as just two minutes later Nico Maclachlan puts a neat pass through to Hardie who lobbed the keeper to put Aston villa into the lead.

Just two minutes after that on 35 minutes Stephen Mcdowell and Hardie combined as Mcdowell won the ball off EK defender Steven Addison near the by-line putting it back to Hardie who put it into an empty net to make it 2-0 villa before the break.

East Kilbride came out looking determined to get something from the game looking keen to win the ball and go forward at the first opportunity with Keigan Taylor and Jack Woods having efforts go narrowly wide just before the hour mark.

However, bang on the hour mark, against the run of the play Aston Villa looked to have killed the game off as Maclachlan again makes to the by-line and puts it across to Hardie to complete his hat trick despite protests of offside from EK players.

There was hope however for East Kilbride as Jordan Glassford found himself in Acres of space in the box to put away a neat finish to make it 3-1. It was all over with nine minutes however with a bit of Hardie magic.

Hardie danced by two players before hammering home a 30 yard strike right into the far right corner of Smiths goal to make it 4-1 and seal 3 points for Villa on the opening day of the LDFA season.