JUBILANT Graham Kemp watched Ben Osborne fire Christchurch a step closer to Wembley and then insisted the hat-trick hero was one of the leading frontmen in the Wessex League.

Osborne earned rich praise from his manager after his treble sent Priory through to the third round proper of the FA Vase with a 3-1 win.

The former Brockenhurst and Poole Town hotshot struck twice before half-time to put Kemp’s men in a commanding position, before sealing the victory after Gary Higdon had briefly given step six outfit Melksham hope of a late fightback.

Osborne, who was with Portsmouth as a youngster, has consistently featured on the Hurn Bridge scoresheet since joining the club from Dolphins in the 2007-08 campaign.

In August, he spent a night in hospital after sustaining a nasty head injury, which resulted in concussion and memory loss, in Christchurch’s league game against Downton.

But Osborne has recovered in style to net 10 Premier Division goals in 14 starts and he continued his fine form with Saturday’s match-winning contribution.

Kemp told the Daily Echo: “Ben has been at Christchurch for four seasons.

“He had a little journey to Poole which didn’t quite work out, but it suits his lifestyle at Christchurch.

“If you look at his record in the past few seasons, he has regularly hit around 20 to 30 goals.

“The league has had exceptional talents like Jamie White at Winchester City and Charlie Austin at Poole, but Ben has been as good as any other striker in the Wessex.

“He was in hospital after being knocked out earlier in the season, but he has come back. He totally recovered from that, recently got married and had a break for the honeymoon. He is happy and you can tell that by the way he is playing.”

Kemp also paid tribute to his backroom team after revealing that a scouting trip from assistant manager John Macey and some opposition-specific training from first team coach Jim Totczyk had helped overcome Melksham.

He added: “It was probably our most complete performance of the season. Full credit to the players as some of them had to do a job they were not used to.

“I wouldn’t say it was our most fluent football, but it was our most complete team performance.”

Christchurch will discover their third round opponents when the draw takes place today. Their victory over Melksham earned £1,200 in prize money.