Osborn's odd Canterbury tale

Paddy Osborn, the Reading striker, put his name into the record books as the first player to score 150 League goals when he scored his side's first against Canterbury.

However, it was Canterbury who took the points - winning a rousing game 3-2 -with Jon Evennett getting the winner from a well-taken penalty corner.

The Canterbury goalkeeper, Simon Triggs, made it difficult for Osborn as he broke clear of the defence, brilliantly saving his first two strikes before finally being beaten.

Predictably, there was an avalanche of goals as teams took advantage of the absence of the offside laws. Old Loughtonians trounced Hounslow 7- 1 while, at Guildford, Barford Tigers rushed to a 5-0 lead, with four goals from Dharminder Singh, before the home team rallied to finish the game 4-6 in favour of the Tigers.

Bob Crutchley, last season's leading scorer, notched three in Cannock's 5-1 win against Havant.

Richard Gibson's hat-trick for East Grinstead was not enough to prevent them going down 4-3 against Southgate, for whom Pietro Attala also scored three times.

In the First Division, Richard Woolfrey was another to net three goals, in Sheffield's 4-1 victory over City of Portsmouth.

In the women's National League Premier Division, Clifton came from behind to beat Balsam Leicester 4-5, in spite of a hat-trick from Purdey Miller. Denise Marston Smith and Lucy Culliford each scored twice for the West Country side. Goals from Karen Brown and Sue Chandler saw Slough to a 2-1 victory at Southampton against Trojans to keep them top.

In the First Division, newly promoted Olton kept up their winning form, with the 16-year-old Lucilla Wright scoring three times in their 4-0 win at Bradford.