JAMES Fry believes hat-trick hero Dan Sweeney is exactly what the club needs after the striker scored a six-minute treble in Alvechurch’s 3-1 win against Malvern Town.
Sweeney’s hat-trick completed a second-half turnaround at the HDanywhere Community Stadium as Church booked their place in the Worcestershire Senior Cup semi-finals.
And after Sweeney scored an injury time equaliser on debut last weekend, Fry praised the striker’s ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
Fry said: “He [Sweeney] is a brilliant character to have around, he’s clinical in front of goal, he’s exactly what we need at this moment, he’s in and around the six-yard box ready to poach a goal.
“It was a little bit of a rollercoaster but we were clinical, we’ve been on a run of loads of games where we should have got something but ended up with nothing.
“We’re at a point where the result is the key bit, the boys found a way and it was fairly comfortable in the end, we made hard work of it.
“We held our nerve, we know if we can get the ball in the right area, we’ve got a clinical number nine up there who only needs half a chance.
“There’s still belief in the dressing room, we’ve got to find ways to show that we know how to deal with moments in games better so we don’t have to climb the mountain each week to get a result.
“The result gives us a little bit more momentum and gives us more confidence than we had a week ago, winning becomes a habit, we’ve got to build on this momentum.”
Alvechurch fell behind to Southern League Division One South side Malvern on 67 minutes as Joe Davies headed home from a set-piece.
However, Church equalised six minutes later when Sweeney rifled home from close range after Ethan McLeod’s initial header came back off the crossbar.
And the visitors completed the turnaround on 77 minutes as Sweeney rounded the goalkeeper before finishing into an empty net.
Sweeney sealed Church’s place in the last four with his hat-trick goal two minutes later after he beat the offside trap before smashing the ball into the roof of the net.
Alvechurch are next in action away at AFC Sudbury on Saturday, January 13 with kick-off at 3pm at MEL Group Stadium.
