On Saturday Howle Hill travelled to Puma to play in the North Gloucester League Division 2. After losing the opening two games 1-0 to Redmarley and 7-2 to Bromyard, the Hillmen were looking to get their season off and running.

Before the game Manager Andy Stacey made a shock decision by leaving out record signing Leighton Hall from his squad. He did however give a full debut to Matthew Hall.

The game started with the Hill boys settling in to some good pass and move football and totally dominating the early exchanges without threatening the home keeper. The Defence of keeper Chris Cooke and the back four of Hall, Ben Williams, Ali Jones and Elliot Joseph dealt with any threat that came their way; the only action Cooke had was a well struck back pass from Rob McAfee in the opening twenty minutes. Hill did take the lead after 30 minutes when a Phin Parsons corner was flicked on by Tom Shotton to James O'Brien, who headed the ball into the net off the far post. This inspired Hill to play some great football before half time, with Lee Edwards driving from midfield to pass to Bobby Hatch who with the help of the defender, gave the ball to Shotton, who finished at the back post to put Howle Hill 2-0 up at half time.

The game continued the same after half time, with Hill having a goal not given, even after replays showed the ball was a good yard over the line. Hill made two subs with Aaron Phelps and new signing Jake Jarrett replacing Edwards and Hatch and the new signing was soon off the mark, scoring after good work from Phelps.

Hill kept their foot on the pedal and a free kick from 25 yards had the treatment from Parsons, who lashed the ball into the top corner to give him his 3rd goal in 3 games. Hill then gave Jamie Evans his debut when he replaced O'Brien and Evans had a helping hand in Howle Hill's 5th and final goal, scored by the home team's defender after a cross by Jarrett.

The Men of the Match were Ali Jones and Matthew Hall for two accomplished displays at the back. Next week it's a home game against Milkwall Reserves with the venue and kick off time yet to be announced due to all teams in the area being at home. Training also starts this week at JKHS at 8pm on Thursday 19 September all players old and new are welcome to come along. The question on everyone's lips, at Howle Hill, is will Leighton Hall impress the manager enough to make the squad next week?

For more stories in full please see this week's Ross Gazette.