Rob Denness bagged a 17-minute hat-trick for rampant Hollands & Blair on Saturday to vindicate the manager’s decision to bring him back to the club.

Blair manager Luke Jessup says buying Denness a late-night pint was “the best £3.50 I’ve spent” after persuading the striker to initially return to the reserves and then step back into the first team.

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Jessup recently made the switch from reserve boss to first-team manager and he took Denness with him. On Saturday he watched the striker put opponents Welling Town to the sword in quick time. Blair won the match 10-1!

The Blair boss has revealed how Denness ended up back and Blair.

Jessup said: “He had been with Snodland Town, got a couple of injuries and stepped away a bit to concentrate on getting fit and it just came about after a fortunate beer one late Saturday night when he popped in. He said he wasn’t sure but in the end we tempted him in.

“It was the best £3.50 I’ve ever spent on that pint!

“He didn't take a lot of convincing to come back to be honest, but when you get to a certain age in life you have to start making good decisions about your body and what you’re capable of.

“We watched him in the reserves and he did wonders for us. We always had an inclination that he might be able to do it further up. He went straight from the reserves to the first team when we took over.

“I feel like a proud father again, I was over the moon for him. His wife was there and his boy to watch him score the hat-trick and I was blown away for him. There’s the old saying, form is temporary and class is permanent, he is that guy.

“He hasn’t been well the last couple of weeks but he came back on Saturday like he was 10 years younger! He was buzzing before the game, looked alright in training, all smiles and laughs and jokes. He scored a hat-trick and could have had two or three more but the ones he got were good finishes, fair play to him.”

Denness opened the scoring after nine minutes having been played in by Tom Walmsley and Chatham loanee Jabari Christmas teed up another with 11 minutes on the clock.

Lewis Allan scored Blair’s third before Denness completed his treble after 26 minutes when Walmsley put him in on goal again, rounding the keeper to score.

Denness headed another effort off the bar and the grateful Rob Gilman was there to make it 4-0 before half an hour had been played. Walmsley wrapped up the half with the fifth.

That was enough for Denness – now in his mid-30s - as he was replaced at the break by birthday-boy Richard Atkins, who also netted with a bullet header, either side of two fine efforts from exciting recent addition Devonte West. Will Oliver rounded the scoring off in stoppage-time to make it double figures.

Denness’ treble came after a pre-match warm-up that had already put the manager in a good mood.

He said: “He is training with young whipper-snappers now and they are running rings around him at times.

“He got nutmegged twice in the warm-up during the rondo by Devonte West. You could see his eyes change, thinking ‘ease up a little bit!’

“He did him once, Rob turned with a scowl on his face, and then Devonte dropped a shoulder on him and Rob thought he would go one way, Devonte went the other. You could see is eyes widen!

“It was hilarious. I had tears running down my face watching Rob trying to chase this little whippet around the pitch. I loved that.”