Simon Harrison's climb through the City of Oxford ranks reached a memorable conclusion when he scored on his debut in a 4-2 victory over Newbury in the Middlesex, Berks, Bucks & Oxon Regional Division, writes JON MURRAY.

Three weeks ago, Harrison was in the City 3rd XI team and scored five goals when the team hit six.

A week later he was promoted to the 2nds and struck four goals as his team hit five.

Promoted to the senior side, he showed his prowess in front of goal by finding the net again, though it was a scrambled effort.

Andy Bell made it 2-0 and Dan Pilbeam finished emphatically with a reverse-stick flick to make it three.

Newbury grabbed a goal back before half-time but City scored again with a sharp first-time finish from James Neilson. City had to hang on in the last few minutes with keeper Chris Mitty making several excellent saves.

Abingdon's hopes of keeping up with the Area Division 1 leaders were dealt a blow when they went down 2-1 at Marlow. The home side scored twice in the first 20 minutes through Ian Aitken, with a fine strike from the edge of the circle, and Mark White.

Abingdon pulled back one goal as the match entered the final quarter when a Dave Brooks free hit was met by Tom Mugford, eight yards out, and his perfect deflection sent the ball high into the net.

Although down to ten players for the last few minutes after Andy Maunder received a temporary suspension, Abingdon almost grabbed a late equaliser when Matt Scott's flick from a short corner was scrambled clear.

Rover Oxford proved too strong for Witney in Division 2, winning 5-0.

Witney arrived with only ten men and were no match for a Rover side who scored through Toby Langdon (2), Ali Fry, 16-year-old Simon Jess and Martin Hunter.

In appalling weather conditions, Wallingford saw off the challenge of newly-promoted Harrow with a 3-0 victory at home.

George Gale opened the scoring with the help of a deflection from a defender's stick. With the wind and rain causing many difficulties, Wallingford sealed the game with further goals from John Rees and the well-named Gale.

**Aaron Teall scored seven goals as Rover Oxford Under 14s beat St Albans 14-1 in the Mercian South League.

**Abingdon have been drawn at home to the Royal Navy in the second round of the HA Men's Vase on December 3. Banbury and Bicester are also at home, to Farnham Common and Farnborough respectively, while Rover Oxford must travel to Thurrock.