George Seeley scored a perfect hat-trick as Knowle preserved their perfect Step Five record with a 5-0 rout of Eynesbury Town.

10-year Knowle servant Seeley opened the scoring with his weaker right foot before heading in his second of the afternoon midway through the second half. The attacking midfielder netted 19 times in Knowle's treble-winning campaign last term and Seeley rounded off a dream afternoon against Eynesbury by finishing cutely with his left in stoppage time.

Brady Floyd and Connor Mort were also on the scoresheet on a day where the Robins played some excellent football to ensure their perfect start to life in Step Five would remain after the eighth round of league fixtures.

Knowle asserted their dominance from minute one and a well-crafted team move resulted in them taking the lead midway through the first half. A sumptuous pass slid Seeley down the right and he exchanged a neat one-two with Floyd. The former then dashed into the penalty area before sweeping underneath stand-in Eynesbury goalkeeper Chris Gough and into the bottom-left corner.

Floyd grabbed a goal of his own on the half-hour mark and it came via an unlikely source. No-nonsense centre-back Jack Duggan is known for using his head more than his feet but he somehow found himself fighting for the ball on the right wing this time around. Duggan ended up crossing for Floyd on the penalty spot, who set himself with composure before arrowing a shot that Gough could do nothing about.

Knowle were well worth their lead at half-time and might have gone further ahead had Adam Wedd not produced a magnificent goal-line clearance to keep out Duggan's goal-bound effort.

Seeley was in the goals again with 25 minutes to play. A deliberately deep free-kick was smartly headed back across by Duggan and Seeley was there to nod home from close range.

Odane Barnes came off the bench to make his 100th appearance in Robins colours following the third goal - and Knowle made it four in the 90th minute after Talib Copeland drew a foul in the box. The menacing attacker is always a problem for opposing defenders and Moussa Fousseni lunged in late before a penalty was awarded.

Mort stepped up to take and slotted home his second spot-kick in four days to add a fourth for Knowle in the dying embers.

There was still time for Knowle to perfect their five-star performance in the closing stages - and Seeley claimed the match ball.

In a moment that summed up Eynesbury's miserable afternoon, Dan Hammer played the ball directly into Seeley's path in the visitors' defensive third. Seeley took his time before superbly picking out the bottom-left corner from distance. The strike took Gough by surprise but the Robins didn't care and Seeley had his perfect hat-trick.

Their attacking output will understandably get all the attention it deserves - 27 goals in eight games as a newly-promoted team is no joke - but the win also marked Knowle's sixth clean sheet of the season. A testament to the squad's fitness and defensive work-rate.

And Seeley is delighted with Knowle's start to life in Step Five following back-to-back promotions from two leagues below.

"We've started the league really, really well," he said post-match. "Eight wins out of eight, six clean sheets in those eight games as well. It's been a collective effort from everyone. We've started off the season the same way as we played all of last year, which is really positive.

"We're still only in September and it's a long way to go, but I've felt that over the past two games we've really proven that we belong at the level and that we can compete with the big boys in the league."

On his hat-trick, Seeley added: "It's always nice to score. I probably haven't scored enough this season, but to get four in two games including a hat-trick is always a positive.

"Hopefully I can kick on and score more goals throughout the season like I did last year."

Next up for Knowle is a cup clash at Sheffield FC - the World's Oldest Football Club - at 3pm on Saturday, September 26.