On Loan Everton player Conor McAleny scores 2nd hat-trick

Conor McAleny bagged the second hat-trick of his loan spell to help keep Oxford United’s League One play-off hopes alive on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Enner Valencia played 59 minutes but couldn’t prevent Ecuador suffering a 2018 World Cup qualifying defeat against Colombia.

With Oxford already leading Bury 2-0 thanks to goals from Marvin Johnson and Joe Rothwell, McAleny beat goalkeeper Joe Murphy either side of the break to give the U’s a commanding lead at the Kassam Stadium.

Former Toffee James Vaughan then pulled one back for the visitors but McAleny, who hit three against Chesterfield back in February, struck to complete another treble with pretty much the last kick of the game.

The victory moved Oxford up to eighth in the table, four points off the play-offs with six games left to play.