Clayton, Hall and Higgins score in win over Aylesbury

NEWBURY & Thatcham men celebrated their first win of the season in the South Central League Division 1 North.

After a defeat and a draw from their opening two games, Newbury broke their duck with an emphatic 3-0 win over Aylesbury.

Doug Clayton, James Higgins and Matt Hall were on target for Newbury, while Alex Philp was named man of the match.

The win lifted Newbury up to fourth in the table and they entertain seventh-placed Maidenhead on Saturday.

Newbury 2nd maintained their fine start to the Division 2 North campaign, edging out Oxford Hawks 4th to move up to third.

Aleksey Storchak grabbed the vital goal, following an assist from Max Juniper.

The 3rd XI had to settle for a point after earning a 1-1 draw against former leaders Abingdon 2nd.

Newbury 4th gave Division 6 North leaders Bicester 2nd a real scare before slipping to a 3-2 defeat.

Bicester started very well and stormed into an early 3-0 lead. But Newbury hit back and reduced the deficit when man-of-the-match Ollie Pace slotted home.

A short corner from Chris Obin made it 3-2, but Newbury’s late onslaught failed to produce an equaliser.

Newbury 5th were beaten 4-0 by Windsor 3rd in Division 2 Thames.

But the men’s Masters were in sparkling form, hammering Portsmouth 10-1 thanks to goals from Graham Cooke, Jonathan Steward (2), Mark Hutchinson, Mark Inskip (3), Peter Osborne (2) and Lee Jordan.

MEGAN Smith fired home a last-gasp goal to maintain Newbury & Thatcham 1st’s unbeaten record in South Central Division 2 North.

After chalking up two straight wins, Newbury were made to battle in difficult conditions by Amersham & Chalfont 3rd.

After a goalless first half, Newbury keeper Jess Allen pulled of a superb save from a penalty stroke.

Amersham, though, looked to have nicked it with a late goal on the break, but in the final minute Alice Lockhart broke down the left and set up player-of-the-match Smith to level with a wonderful backhand shot from a tight angle.

Newbury 2nd moved joint top in Division 1 Thames after scoring a 2-0 victory at Phoenix Reading 2nd.

Newbury dominated the first half but failed to make the breakthrough.

But they took the lead in the second half when Amy Shore set up Emma Boyd to fire home.

And soon after, star player Mireille Cook delivered another great ball into the circle for Zoe Quartley to make it 2-0.

The 3rd XI also made it two wins out of two in the same section after beating Maidenhead 3rd 2-0.

Player-of-the-match Mary Cavanagh did the damage with both of the goals.

Newbury 4th are still looking for their first point of the

season in Division 3 Thames after going down 1-0 to early pace-setters Scarlet Runners.

And Newbury 5th slumped to a 4-0 defeat in Division 4 Thames at the hands of

leaders Henley 4th, despite a standout display from Danielle Du Toit.