The penultimate pre-season match produced a win for the Fleet thanks to a half-hour Dominic Samuel hat-trick at the Artic Stadium.

Samuel equalised in the first-half and added two quickfire strikes after the break to send his side heading towards the final warm-up game this Friday in good form.

An early chance for the Fleet saw Jake Vokins deliver a low cross into the area which picked out Daniel Ogunleye but he flicked his effort just off target as the goalkeeper came out to challenge.

The visitors thought they had an early goal when Camron Gbadebo launched the ball into the back of the net from another delivery, this time by Lennon Peake, but he was flagged offside.

It was the hosts who opened the scoring on 14 minutes as Ade Shokunbi nipped in to space in the Fleet box and took a shot from a tight angle that found its target.

Finlay Barnes looked for an instant response with a right-footed strike from the edge of the area but a superb save by Prince Adegoke kept that out.

Samuel found the equaliser on 23 minutes as he glided through the Cray defence which left him one on one with the keeper. He still had plenty to do, though, and dispatched a shot from the edge of the area that flew into the bottom right corner.

Harvey Walker produced a great solo run that deserved more when he took the ball across midfield and then through on goal but having done all the hard work, his attempt to round that off with a goal missed the target.

The Fleet gave Cray Valley little chance in the opening minutes of the second-half when two quick goals put them firmly in control. It was Samuel once again to provide the excellent finish on 51 minutes from a Vokins delivery. Last season’s top scorer took his time before firing towards goal leaving Adegoke no chance.

Two became three six minutes later and from Edser’s weighted pass, Samuel wrapped up his hat-trick in style with a stunning strike from just outside the box that hit the roof of the net for 3-1.

The Millers pulled one back 10 minutes later when Mal Turner’s cross was a tricky one and it went in off a Fleet player.

Fleet had a couple more chances for a fourth. Peake, who earlier turned a good chance over the bar, whipped a ball in from a corner to pick out Trialist A at the far post but his headed effort was cleared by the hosts. Gene Kennedy’s header and a placed Edser effort that went over the bar also kept the Cray Valley defence busy.

Matt Hall also pulled off a strong save to deny Cray an equaliser just before he made way for Will Buse as Josh Wright used all five subs on the night.

EUFC: Hall (Buse 78), Vokins (Trialist 62), Gbadebo (Tizzard 77), Manktelow (Passley 62), Edser, Kennedy, Peake, Barnes (Appiah 62), Walker, Ogunleye, Samuel.

CVPM: Adegoke, Ming, Smith, Sankoh, Ekpiteta, Deighton, Dua, Shokunbi, Otote, Gayle, Stewart. Subs: Dickson, Leahy, Whitby, Turner, Trialist A, Trialist B

Photos: ©EUFC, Ed Miller