ATHERTON Colls pulled off the shock of the season in the North West Counties League when they beat runaway leaders FC United at Gigg Lane.

The Rebels could not handle Colls striker, Anthony Pilkington, who grabbed a superb hat-trick which capped an outstanding team performance by the Alder House side.

The victory takes Colls up to seventh on 31 points, one more than they amassed in the whole of last season.

FC United, who have scored an amazing 23 goals in their last three home games and would have gone 10 points clear at the top if they had won, rarely troubled the well organised Colls outfit in front of 1,723 fans.

Pilkington, partnered by the outstanding Craig Hobson up front, opened the scoring on 15 minutes when he beat Sam Ashton from a tight angle.

He made it two deep into first half injury time when he beat a defender and race through on goal before slotting his shot past Ashton.

Then he put the icing on the cake in the last minute with a close range shot.

Colls aim to continue their impressive run when they travel to Salford City on Saturday.