South League

Greg Horne struck twice as Rover Oxford went to the summit of South League Division 1 by beating leaders Newbury 3-1 in their top-of-the-table clash.

Horne made Rover's early dominance county with a short corner goal after 15 minutes.

However, they failed to captilise further on their pressure, and a cruel deflection off Matthew Fisher's stick left Chris Slatter hapless in the Rover goal and the sides even at the break.

A resurgent Newbury started the second period the better and were denied a goal by an over-enthusiastic umpire, who blew for feet in the circle a split second before the resulting kick deflected past Slatter, saving Fisher a freak brace of own goals.

Rover then broke from a short corner to score at the other end, with Duncan Buckmaster running the length of the pitch to slot home Dan Smyth's cross.

Newbury hit the bar, before a second corner strike from Horne gave Rover breathing space.

Abingdon remain in trouble after losing 2-1 at home to South Bucks.

The visitors took the lead after 15 minutes through a Simon Harper penalty corner strike.

Five minutes later, South Bucks increased their lead when Simon Riches picked up the ball 25 yards out and beat two defenders before unleashing a crisp strike into the corner of the goal.

Abingdon were unlucky not to pull one back on the stroke of half-time when Kev Smith rounded the South Bucks goalkeeper only to see his angled shot rebound off a post.

Midway through the second half, Smith's luck improved when a pass from Matt Leney found him unmarked five yards out, and he tucked the ball under the keeper.

Skipper Steve Bates and Mike Godwin grabbed a goal apiece as Witney did the double over Bracknell with a 2-1 victory in Division 2.

Bates opened the scoring early on after picking up a loose ball at the top of the area.

Bracknell had caused few problems to a Witney defence well-marshalled by Grahame Mathews, until they snatched an equaliser from a deflected short corner.

But Godwin restored Witney's lead when he forced home a shot at the second attempt.