Darren Armour's recent feat of a hat-trick on his debut in the league match against Coagh United certainly deserves much credit, although as Ards' resident facts-man Billy Graham has been quick to point out, Armour is not without company in that achievement.

The first Ards player to score three goals in his debut game for the club was Winston Orr in an Ulster Cup match against Bangor on 19th August 1950. He was followed by one George Baker, who did the same against Portadown in an Ulster Cup match on the opening day of the season, August 15th 1953.

The last player to complete this feat, prior to Darren Armour this season was Liam Munroe, who scored three in a 5-2 league win over Crusaders on 21st January 1956.

Armour's three goals, which came inside seven second half minutes against Coagh, followed on from Darren Fitzgerald's hat-trick against Magherafelt Sky Blues in the preceding match. Instances of hat-tricks being scored by different players in successive matches are in fact a lot more common to Ards than one might think.

In fact it's happened on more occasions than would be practical to highlight - nine in total - but one or two of those do deserve special mention.

Away back in February 1929 Jimmy Turnbull notched up three goals against Distillery in a league match at Grosvenor Park and this was followed just days later by a hat-trick against Coleraine by a player known only as Gordan. Amazingly in the very next game, on 16th February 1929, the feat was repeated once more when Jack Garrett hit the net three times in a 5-0 City Cup win over Bangor. Turnbull and Garrett had played in all three games, while Gordan was in the team for the latter two.

The feat of successive hat-tricks by different players was repeated twice in the Intermediate League in 1940/41 and 1945/46 and then again in 1960/61, while the last game of 1960/61 and the opening match of the following season witnessed another example.

In February 1959 Ards fans witnessed for the second time three hat-tricks in successive matches, although on this occasion two of the hat-tricks were scored by Billy Harding. He scored in league matches against Glenavon on 7th February and then again in a 7-0 win over Cliftonville a week later. That was followed on by three strikes from G Cupples against Derry City on 21st February 1959.

Records show successive hat-tricks occurring again in 1961/62 and 1973/74, prior to this season.

When we look at instances when hat-tricks were scored by two players in the same game, again we see that this has been done on nine occasions, the most recent being against Donard Hospital in an Irish Cup match of 2003/04 when Darren Fitzgerald scored five and Gary Kennedy hit three in a 10-0 win.

Other notable scoring feats for Ards include a record of six goals in one game from Jackie Robinson against Crusaders in a 6-2 Irish League win in 1950. Finally, it would be remiss not to mention the scoring exploits of Billy McAvoy who, along with being Ards' top all-time goal-scorer with 301, can also claim to have scored a club record 22 hat-tricks in his Castlereagh Park career.

with thanks to Billy Graham for all of the information contained in this article

first published 28th February 2010