"WE were well and truly mugged" complained Elton Fold manager Guy Mallinson following his side's 2-0 Premier Division defeat at Mitchell Shackleton.

"Early on we had a perfectly good goal disallowed. Their first goal came from a corner which should have been given as a foul to us. "And for their second our centre half was elbowed in the face yet he gave a free kick to them.

"Having said that on both goals we were still arguing when the ball went in which is very bad.

"We also had two men sent off and even down to nine men Martin Rayner and Steve Smith missed sitters in the last few minutes.

"It wasn't our day to put it mildly."

Centre-back Anthony Doran was named as man of the match. Breightmet United stay top of Division One following a nail-biting 3-2 home win over New Mills.

Paul Smith's 10th minute overhead kick set United on their way but the visitors equalised on 25 minutes when Adam Taylor was caught in possession.

New signing Jimmy Beavers restored the lead but again a defensive lapse lost the advantage.

On 75 minutes Paul Gallagher raced through to rifle a superb winner into the top corner but United still had to successfully negotiate a lot of intense pressure from New Mills, particularly in the last minute when the ball was kicked off the line four times and hit a post.

"Today was one of those days when we got the bit of luck we badly needed," sighed relieved manager Phil Breakell.

Rhyse Taylor was named as United man of the match.

United's Reserves left manager Barry Norris apparently "thinking of going Christmas shopping on Saturday afternoons" if they are going to play as badly as they did in a 5-1 defeat at Prestwich Heys.

Another poor first half performance from Hindsford left them with it all to do in the second half in a 1-1 draw at Avro.

"We were just very poor in that opening period," admitted manager Peter Barry.

"Avro are a good footballing side and we were lucky they only got the one goal.

"We changed it around a bit at half time and in the end we could have won by three or four, so a draw was a bit of a disappointment."

Danny Toone got the vital goal.

The clash between the Reserves team of Elton Fold and Atherton Town saw the latter 8-1 away victors. Anthony Lavery scored five, Mark Warburton two and Chris Brooks one, with Anthony Healey getting Fold's consolation.

Leigh Athletic's young reserve side came back from a two goal deficit to win 5-2 at Tintwistle Villa.

BEN STAR TURN: Rhyse Taylor - Breightmet Utd. "A bit of luck for the win," said manager Breakell. "But this man was outstanding in midfield."

Finnair Manchester League Leading Goalscorer Chart Matt Toone Hindsford 12

Paul Gallagher Breightmet Utd 10

Danny Woods Hindsford 7

Martin Rayner Elton Fold 7

John Armstrong Elton Fold 5

Barry Atkins Atherton Town 5

Phil Hornby Atherton Town 5

Gary Goodinson Breightmet Utd 4