Abingdon were in volved in the season's most remarkable match so far as they stormed into a 6-0 lead against bottom club Bicester in South League MBB&O Division 1 - yet ended up clinging on for a 7-6 victory after allowing their opponents to stage an astonishing recovery.

Abingdon raced into a 4-0 lead at the interval, the goals coming from Josh Tomlinson and Will Trigg at penalty corners, Andrew Ringsell from a narrow angle after rounding the Bicester goalkeeper, and a Trigg penalty stroke.

The opening ten minutes of the second half at Tilsley Park continued as the first, the home side adding a further two goals. Trigg completed his hat-trick and Tomlinson claimed a second.

Even when a defensive mix-up allowed Mike Bywater to pull one back for Bicester, and then Wayne Dobbins netted with a penalty corner to made it 6-2, there seemed no danger for Abingdon - especially when Owen Blackburn put them 7-2 up.

However, no-one could have predicted Bicester's remarkable fightback as they clawed their way back into the match.

Winning a series of penalty corners, they were clinical in their finishing and two goals apiece from Chris Rough and John Roger made the final scoreline 7-6.

Wallingford were held 0-0 by Wokingham at Hithercroft.

Wallingford hit the post and were denied on a number of occasions by the opposition keeper.

Witney slipped to a 3-1 home defeat by leaders Tring Also in Division 1, City of Oxford were beaten 4-2 at Mill Hill.

Alex McDonald equalised Mill Hill's early goal, but the home side regained the lead before Chris Brougham deflected home a short corner at the right post to make it 2-2 at half-time.

Mill Hill won the match with two open-play goals in the second half.

Oxford Hawksslid to a third defeat on the trot in Premier Division 1, going down 3-2 at Spencer (Wands- worth).

Short of five first-choice players through injury, Hawks called up reliable old retainers in Nick Styles, Ed Baldock and Ali McShane and all three shone in a stirring second-half showing.

Spencer took an early lead with a soft goal, but their 2-0 half-time advantage fairly reflected the balance of play, with Jamie Legg in the Hawks goal much the busier of the two keepers.

Buoyed by a goal early in the second half from Sebastian van den Berg, Hawks then dominated with Nick Lamb and Christophe Reculez in charge of midfield.

Simon Robinson smashed home a penalty corner, then Baldock touched home a cross only to have it disallowed following a conference between the umpires.

In the final minute, Hawks conceded an unnecessary penalty corner which Spencer converted to secure a win they scarcely merited.

Banbury are now three points clear at the top of Premier Division 2 after a 3-1 win at West Hampstead.

Adrian Simons coolly rolled the ball in from six yards after good work from Richard Foreman and Craig Irvine.

Simon Boardman doubled the lead from a trademark short-corner routine, but West Hampstead pulled one back.

They were then reduced to ten men following some cynical tackling and Banbury killed off the game with a third goal, Matthew Bull's drag-flicked short-corner somehow evading the keeper's best efforts.

Also in Premier Division 2, Rover Oxford crashed to a 5-1 defeat at mid-table Henley, whose first two goals came early in the first half following two lapses in concentration from the Rover backline.

Rich Beer halved the deficit after a move started by Jon Tait, but Henley scored two quick goals early in the second half.

Rover's Chris Mitty, Dan Pilbeam, Toby Langdon and captain Dave Hewstone were all shown yellow cards.