HOT-SHOT striker Rikki Howe will be badly, and sadly, missed by Honley Socialist.

The club’s prolific leading scorer broke his right leg in the Division II match against Rose and Crown, which was abandoned after 30 minutes at Honley recreation ground, with the home side winning 2-0.

Howe was taken to hospital and had to have the leg plated and pinned and will be out of action for some time.

The abandonment leaves Honley with only one completed game, but the only side in this division with a 100% record.

Gas Club lead the way with two wins as they beat White Horse in their latest encounter.

Horse, however, appear to have got into a bad habit of throwing games away.

They were leading 4-2 in a recent game against Cricketers but ended up drawing 4-4, and in this match were 3-1 up but once again lost the initiative to end up on the wrong end of 5-4 scoreline.

Dale Joy (2), Jamie Pearson and Duncan Duffy netted for White Horse while Daniel Bradley, Richard Woodward, Stewart Walker and Campbell (2) replied for Gas.

New clubs Marsh United and Slaithwaite Athletic could not be separated as they grabbed a point apiece in a 1-1 draw.

In the top flight, Heywood Irish and Team Forward took over joint top spot following victories over Walpole and GNG Sikh Temple, respectively, and Marsh Liberal’s demise against Royal.

The Liberal club side looked likely to hold onto their unbeaten tag for 70 minutes as they led 1-0 after James Battye had converted a corner in the first half.

Royal’s keeper had been rarely troubled as the Liberals struggled up front without their main goal-getter Richard Dyson, who was ill.

The Liberal keeper then saved a penalty and it looked like being their lucky day.

But Royal were in no mood to go under and they dominated the last 20 minutes.

Strikes by Luke Haigh, Liam King and a 20-yarder from Michael McCabe – his first for the club – brought a 3-1 win to dent Marsh’s unbeaten record.

Heywood Irish Centre’s defending was rather poor at times but a hat trick from Ashley Flynn, a brace by Darren Henigan, and others from Dean Hyam and John Paul Flynn (pen) earned a 7-3 win.

GNG Sikh Temple were again put to the test as they had three men sent off.

Team Forward held their composure, however, and gained a 6-4 win thanks to goals from Paul Pyke and Marcus Hafner (two each), Michael Fill and Abdullah Aka.