Hastings Town beat their nearest rivals Fisher Athletic to move four points clear at the top of the Dr Martens eastern division last night.

George Wakeling's table-topping team stormed into a two-goal lead inside seven minutes to leave the visitors reeling.

Hastings opened the scoring in the third minute when Fisher's keeper John Henry cleared straight to Stuart Playford who drilled it back into the box and Paul Jones tapped in right footed.

Four minutes later Danny Simmonds doubled the home side's advantage from the penalty spot.

Henry brought down Jones outside the area and was booked.

From the free kick Ben Taylor handled and Simmonds converted the resulting spot kick for his fourth goal of the season.

Jones aggravated an ankle injury from Saturday's game in the challenge and he left the action in the 24th minute to be replaced by Chris Honey.

Honey came off the bench to score in Hastings' previous two games and he made his presence felt immediately.

In the 31st minute the lanky striker crossed from the right and Lee McRobert played in Stuart Myall but his scuffed shot rolled past the post.

As the half wore on, the visitors did at least test Town goalkeeper Dave King. Ray Powell shot straight at him and then the Hastings No. 1 kept out Tony Dolby's close range effort with his feet in first-half stoppage time.

After the restart the visitors began to control the game, and King needed to be alert to keep out Powell's shot following excellent approach play by Tostao Kwashi.

In the 70th minute the London-based team scored when substitute Leroy Huggins finished off Dolby's corner.

Then with five minutes left, King dived low to his right to keep out another Huggins effort and deny ex-Milwall manager Keith Stevens' side a point.

Hastings skipper Tony Burt was delighted with his side's flying start.

He said: "We didn't expect to score two goals so soon. I felt everybody played well but we probably sat too deep in the second half.

"They came back at the end and made it difficult for us but it's a great win."

Hastings: King, Yates, Osborne, Playford, Burt, Ruddy, Myall, McArthur, Jones, Simmonds, McRobert. Subs: Ferguson, Honey, Webb.

Fisher: Henry, Scowen, Maloney, Roberts, Robinson, Taylor, Kwashi, Tydeman, Dolby, Powell, Mighty. Subs: Farley, Manning, Huggins.

Referee: Andrew Wooldridge (Ashington).