The 39-year-old rolled back the years to spark a 15 minute goal frenzy in the second half.

Buckner rang in the changes for the trip to West Sussex moving young talents Tom Mills into right back and Jonathan Lowe into midfield.

In a tight first half, fellow teenager Tom Waters went closest for Saxons firing a snapshot just wide of the post on 10 minutes.

But neither team could break the deadlock as they went into the break.
And the second half couldn't have started any worse for Saxons as the hosts opened the scoring with a shot from 12 yards which sailed past veteran keeper Graham Deaves.

Saxons hit back minutes later when Lowe burst down the byline and fed Buckner who planted the ball between keeper and post from close range.

Then Waters latched onto Lowe's bullet of a cross to fire in a net buster from 10 yards out leaving the keeper no chance.

Saxons then threw caution to the wind and poured forward looking for a third.

On 53 minutes Lowe marched into the D only to see his goal-bound shot deflected into the air and handled on the line by a defender. Buckner then stepped up to coolly dispatch the resulting penalty flick to make it 1-3.
And the skipper saved the best until last when he picked up the ball on the top of D, jinked past three defenders before firing underneath an oncoming keeper.

"Hat tricks are special," said Buckner, "but the whole team was special that afternoon. Without their efforts it would not have been possible."

Report by Sol buckner.