Frankie Sawyer took his tally to five goals in three games last night as Croydon Athletic moved off the foot of the Ryman Premier League with a 2-0 win against Hastings United.

The striker followed up his double in the weekend win over Folkestone Invicta with another yesterday to give the Rams their third league win on the spin.

Croydon looked confident in the early exchanges, with ex-Hastings player Sawyer shooting just wide in the first minute and Danny Elgar’s long range strike going over the crossbar.

Some further good link play between Elgar and Sawyer saw the latter’s close range effort denied by the keeper.

As the half wore on, Tom Bolarinwa had an opportunistic long range effort that looked as through it was going way over, but in fact bounced down and hit the top of the crossbar.

The breakthrough came in the 21st minute when a defensive misjudgement by Hastings saw the hungry Sawyer latch on to the ball and strike it home to put the Rams 1-0 up.

Hastings had little to offer although Ross Sutton had a good run through the Croydon defence only for his shot to go wide.

The Rams went further ahead in the 31st minute when that man Sawyer again managed to be in the right place at the right time to net the rebound from Elgar’s fine strike.

Croydon had another chance near the end of the half when Shabazz Baidoo picked up the ball in the box but his strike went over the bar.

The second half began much as the first, with Croydon clearly in control.

Hastings tried to push upfield, with Ashley Robinson having a shot on target which was well gathered by Charlie Mitten in the Croydon goal.

At the other end of the field Tom Hughes’ header from a corner sliced just over the bar.

As the half progressed another great chance was created by a telling pass from Elgar to Stefan Rasmussen to strike the ball from a sharp angle just wide of the post.

As the match drew to a close Croydon were still looking to increase the scoreline and Baidoo was clear in the box with only the keeper to beat but tried to chip it over him and Scott Chalmers-Stevens in the Hastings goal managed to block it.

In the last minute of the game Lasse Weber put a fine ball through to Baidoo but his close range shot was saved again by the keeper.

Three wins on the trot now for the Rams and at last the fans may have something to shout about in this difficult season.

Croydon Athletic: Charlie Mitten, Colin Hartburn, Helge Orome, Kieron McCann, Tom Hughes, Jeremy Williams, Danny Elgar (85 mins George Landais), Dorian Smith, Shabazz Baidoo, Frankie Sawyer (75 mins Lasse Weber), Tom Bolarinwa (71 mins Stefan Rasmussen). Subs not used: Callum Donaghey, Adam Peck.