The bottom three at the start of the day all picked up their first points of the season with Crowland taking pride of place by bashing Oundle 5-1.

And Crowland had to overcome a disastrous start as a side already weakened by rival football attractions in the area promptly conceded a goal to Ronald Osker in the second minute.

Crowland chief Pete Harrison said: "I thought 'here we go again' because we let a goal in during the first minute the previous week and just crumbled, but fair play to the lads because they fought back really well.

"It was a great effort because we lost a few regular players to the Posh v Leeds match."

Two of the late call-ups, Neil Colley and Ricky Jackson, even managed to score. Martin Ward (2) and Ashley Pratt claimed the other goals to the frustration of Oundle boss Danny Clifton.

Clifton said: "We were brilliant for the first 15 minutes, but then made the mistake of thinking we were going to win easily. It was a very disappointing result as we need to beat the teams likely to finish near us in the league."

Crowland moved off the bottom of the table as a result, even though fellow strugglers Peterborough Sports and Stamford Bels both claimed excellent draws to end their own 100 per cent losing records. In fact it was almost even better for both teams.

Sports led three times before setttling for a 3-3 draw with Parson Drove, while Bels were 2-0 up inside four minutes at Whittlesey before they were pegged back.

Sports boss Roger Martin said: "We played very well, but we just couldn't hang on for the win. We'd have taken a draw before the game though."

Newcomer James Picillo scored twice for Sports whose performance drew great praise from Drove manager Gary Shales.

Shales said: "I didn't recognise my team out there as we turned up with a poor attitude. We expected to win and in the end we were lucky to get a draw.

"Full credit to Sports though as they were very good and deserved to get something from the game."

Bels' result was all the more admirable as manager Paul Downs was forced to play in goal and he had lost captain and defensive rock Paul Conneely to United Counties League side Blackstones.

Downs said: "We will miss Paul as he's a top player, but it's a move upwards for him and we couldn't stand in his way.

"To be honest we were stunned to go two goals ahead even though we had a gale force wind behind us in the first half.

"They bombarded us for pretty much the rest of the match, but to be fair we defended so well I didn't have that many shots to save."

Rhys Ford and Mark Knighton scored the Bels goals before Robert Speechley's brace earned Whittlesey a draw.



FLETTON moved to the top of the table with manager Ian Rudd claiming his side have yet to play to their full potential.

The city side were held goalless for an hour at Wimblington before running in four goals in just 15 minutes. Andrew Bradley, Lee D'Arcy, Stuart Eason and Michael Sealey scored the goals.