Steve Lyons safely takes a high ball

Mick Ward turns and shoots, but keeper saves

Gavin Hunter's run is intercepted

Craig Hall tackled

If TV pundit Alan Hansen had been assessing the game at Church Lane last Saturday, instead of the England v Austria World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford, then he would have still been summing up the dreadful defending of New Mills and Leek CSOB until the middle of the week.

If the many millions of football fans tuning into the International thought that the game was somewhat boring, then the message is that there is entertaining soccer to be found locally here in the High Peak .

Quite simply this Moore and Co Construction Solicitors League game was an absolute classic from the first minute until the last. The Millers, who have been starved of goals lately, successfully resigned last-seasons leading scorer Craig Hall from Shirebrook Town, and it took him less than five minutes to open his account. He found himself played through and coolly stroked the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Within five more minutes that lead was doubled when after a corner from Scott Dignan was played back to him, he spotted Lee Wright on the edge of the penalty area and he drilled the ball into the same area of the net. The home supporters had barely drawn their breath when Ray Hodbay scored from a similar position, with the ball once again resting in the same area of the net. The home side were now rampant and it seemed they would score every time they surged forward.

And so, three goals up and just 12 minutes gone, it looked as though there would be an easy three points already in the bag. However, the tempo of the Millers play seemed to relax after twenty minutes and it came as no surprise when Nick Hambleton scored on the half hour mark. The Old Boys then scored again just seven minutes later through Colin Fletcher.

It seemed as though that would be the end of the first half scoring until Mike Ward raced through on a one-on-one with the Leek custodian James Hall, and Ward unleashed a thunderbolt, which flew into the net.

There was a brief lull in the non-stop attacking of both side after the resumption, but this all changed when the ball flew into the goal via the leg of Dan Thomas, who registered his first goal for the seniors on 57 minutes.

The Staffordshire side were not to be outdone though, and despite some terrific saves by Steve Lyons he was beaten on 61 minutes with a strike from Mark McDonald. Just seven minutes later and Chris Rowley scored the ninth goal of the game – and all by different players, when did that last happen in a game?

The Millers were denied a clear cut penalty as the game moved into added on time, when Dan Thomas was hauled down by his neck. Amazingly the referee awarded an in direct free kick, which was successfully cleared. There was still time though for Leek to test the crossbar as they pressed for that elusive equalizing goal.

Although as mentioned there was some calamitous defending; both teams should be warmly congratulated for a pulsating ninety minutes of non-stop attacking football. The driving rain made conditions tricky and the crowd went home thoroughly entertained.

The Millers must hope to defend better when they travel to Buxton on Tuesday evening, where there will be better quality forwards to take advantage of any slips. But, they have at least ended the goal drought, and with some style.

New Mills went crashing out of this season's FA Vase when they slipped to defeat at home to Penrith at Church Lane on Saturday. The question on the minds of most of the 140 people who were present, was quite simply, how did they lose?

The Millers started brightly and had a couple of half chances in the first quarter of an hour. However, the visitors took the lead on 19 minutes through Will Paul in what was their first serious attack. The home side came back strongly and had a couple of shots at goal from Wild and Ward.

After the break, New Mills took the game to the Cumbrian side and attacked almost non-stop. The Penrith defence was resolute and the goalkeeper James Holland was in outstanding form. One save in particular was from a fine turn and left-foot strike from Kaleem Ahmed, whose terrific strike seemed destined for the top right hand corner, only for Holland to dive at full stretch to tip the ball over.

There followed a barrage of corner and free kicks on the Penrith goal as their defenders began to noticeably tire. The game was effectively wrapped up with just ten minutes remaining. A rare breakaway resulted in Steve Rooke bagging a second goal.

The Millers finally got on the score sheet when Gavin Hunter was fouled in the penalty area. Up stepped Scott Dignan to drill the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

There then followed a frantic last five minutes. Incredibly New Mills then created their two best chances. The best of these fell to new signing Lee Wright who had had an outstanding game, but he fired over the bar from close range.

The result was more than a little harsh on the Peakites who are struggling to score goals at the present. They will be looking to change that this Saturday when they are again at home to Leek CSOB who are languishing near the foot of the table. The Millers will also be looking for a morale boosting victory to take with them when they travel to the Silverlands next Tuesday in the Derbyshire Senior Cup. The game kicks off at 7.45 and they are hoping that as many supporters travel as possible in what will be a very difficult match against a very much in-form Buxton outfit.

The Reserve side went down 2-1 at Colne with their goal coming from Alex Radford. They will travel to Chadderton on Saturday and be hoping to regain top spot in their table.