HUDDERSFIELD, hoping to win promotion to the Northern Hockey League for the first time in more than 20 years, made a disappointing start to 2008 as Lincoln became the first team to gain any points at Lockwood Park this season by pulling off a surprise 3-2 victory.

Having not played since December 8, the home side were a touch off the pace, and Lincoln took the lead with a quality breakaway goal.

Man-of-the-match Simon Courtney caused Lincoln problems and twice cut through after passes from Martin Hirst, but his best chance, a chip over the keeper, dropped wide.

An excellent run and cross from Will Rogers picked out Steve Durrans at the far post and he slid home an equaliser.

But Lincoln regained the lead with a mis-hit shot from a short corner which bobbled past Paul Howarth.

There was some encouraging play at the start of the second half. But it was Lincoln who were the more clinical as they lifted the ball over the grounded Howarth to make it 3-1.

A great run from the back by Ali Ross created the opportunity for Greg Moorhouse to slot neatly into the bottom corner and give Huddersfield hope, but Lincoln held the ball well and ran down the clock.

Team: Howarth, Ross, Hannam, Peachey, Gregory, Kaye, Kelly, Courtney, Moorhouse, Hirst, Rogers, Durrans, Lovatt.

Huddersfield III 3 Leeds 2

IT was important for Huddersfield to get the second half of their season under way in positive fashion, and they managed it by scoring three first-half goals before withstanding a Leeds fightback.

John Walker converted a short corner with a great strike and was again on target after collecting a neat cross from Nicky Elson.

The third came from another short corner, Maddeford slipping the ball to Craig Hindmarsh, who slotted home.

Elson, Kullar and Walker all went close to adding to the lead. Leeds began to push forward in the second half, resulting in an early goal.

When they added a second, Huddersfield began to lose their shape and composure, although there were some big tackles from Dan Cooper, James Taylor and Amjid Hamed, while keeper Bob McCallum made some fine saves.

Team: McCallum, Hamed, Maddeford, Cooper, Taylor, Moscrop, Hindmarsh, Swindells, Kullar, Walker, Elson, Dallas.

Wakefield Slazengers IV 1 Huddersfield VI 1

HAVING lost 2-0 to Slazengers earlier in the season, Huddersfield showed their improvement by salvaging a respectable draw.

While controlling the midfield contest, they could not penetrate an experienced Slazengers defence, keeping the game scoreless at the interval.

Slazengers went ahead after the break as they pressured Huddersfield’s defence into making a mistake.

But rather than dropping their heads, as they have done before, Huddersfield went after the game and justly deserved their equaliser with only a couple of minutes left, a deft touch from James Lee finding its way across the line.

Huddersfield’s desire to attack all game, left Slazengers one-on-one with keeper Andrew Boyle twice, but he saved brilliantly.

There were great efforts from youngsters Ashley Cooke, James Lee and Nigel Ford.

Team: Chris Moorhouse, Nigel Stansfield, Paul Barker, Patrick Flavin, Dan Stolworthy, Nigel Ford, James Lee, Ashley Cooke, Chris Parkes, Ali Charman, Ed Shimmel, Andrew Boyle.

Wigton 6 Lockwood Park 2

INJURY-hit Lockwood travelled three hours to face an in-form Wigton and took the initiatives in the opening 10 minutes with attacking hockey.

But Wigton scored a breakaway goal against the run of play, and the visitors lost their way.

After making tactical changes, Lockwood Park regained some pride in the second half, with Amanda Sowerby and Michelle Dexter pulling goals back.

Team: Townsend, Smeaton, Davies, Armitage, Benson, Fillingham, Dexter, Sowerby, Smith, Hough, Gerrard, Blackburn.