Lee Weston bagged a second-half hat-trick as Worthing strengthened their promotion push with a 4-0 home win over struggling Romford.

The Essex side were forced to play the final 25 minutes with only nine men following the double sending off of Tony Kinnear and Mal Grayburn.

Rebels are now unbeaten in their last eight games in Division 1 and takes them up to fifth.

Worthing were leading 2-0 through goals from Marc Rice and Weston when the sendings off occurred in the 65th minute.

Kinnear was first to go on a linesman's say-so after he was adjudged to have held back Weston, and then Grayburn saw red for dissent.

Worthing did not have things all their own way in the first half and Romford's Bryan Page failed to convert a poorly-taken penalty on 18 minutes.

Rebels keeper Lee Bray then denied Mark Jones and Mervin Abraham before Rice opened the scoring on 36 minutes.

Weston seized on a through ball from Rice to make it 2-0 eight minutes after the break and completed his hat-trick with two more goals in the last two minutes.

The busy midfielder was on hand to convert a rebound after keeper Rumsey parried a shot by Miles Rutherford and he then struck from close range.

Relegation-threatened Bognor suffered a 4-0 mauling at Braintree.

Had Scott Bundy taken an early chance it might have been different, but once the home side went ahead on 10 minutes, it was effectively over.

Ian Brown netted Braintree's first, and Declan Perkins made it 2-0 nine minutes later.

It was 3-0 in the 32nd minute when Brown rifled home his second, and for all Bognor's second-half resilience, Simon Miller's shot bounced over a stranded Colin Matthews on 57 minutes to complete the rout.

Rocks boss Jack Pearce said: "You can't give away some of the goals like we did today at this level, and expect to get something out of the game.

"It is always a struggle when you are two down so early on."

Horsham's run of four consecutive wins in Division 2 ended with a 2-0 defeat at high-flying Northwood.

But boss John Maggs was far from disheartened after his side made the title-chasing north Londoners work hard. Maggs said "This performance showed me yet again how far we've come in a short space of time.

"We've come up against a side who will probably win this league and we've given them a real fright."

Two goals from the prolific Lawrence Yaku proved the difference between the two sides.

He struck late in the first half and then wrapped up the points three minutes from time.

Hornets carved out plenty of chances themselves but found Paul Riorden in outstanding form.

He denied John Kirkland and Gavin Geddes with brilliant first-half stops and then kept out everything the visitors could throw at him after the break.

Lewes drew 1-1 with Corinthian Casuals at The Dripping Pan in Division 3.

The Rooks took the lead on 78 minutes through John Hotchkiss, and although home keeper Paul Rogers made two brilliant late saves, he was finally beaten in the last minute by the persistent Jamie White.

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