NCEL: Rossington Main make their point but Armthorpe and Harworth lose on opening day

Armthorpe Welfare and NCEL new boys Harworth Colliery suffered 2-1 defeats on the opening day of the season.

However, Maltby Main did get off to a winning start in the Premier Division.

A familiar face gave Rossington a 20th minute lead at Oxford Street.

Lee Holmes opened his account with a deflected header from a Brad Billam cross after the visitors had missed an early penalty.

But Main found themselves pegged back a minute before the interval when Max Curzon headed home.

It took a brilliant save from Main’s goalkeeper Josh Diggles just after the break to prevent Ollerton leaving with all three points.

Harworth went down at home against Worsbrough Bridge Athletic.

The Briggers led 2-0 courtesy of a neat finish from Kieran Hirst just before the half hour mark and a Joe Dungworth effort five minutes into the second period.

Harworth clawed one back on 89 minutes through a Mark West header but the visitors held on to take maximum points.

It was not the start that Armthorpe boss Michael Carmody had been hoping for against an Emley side which used their possession much better.

There was an early chance for Welfare when Darren Mansaram turned on the edge of the area to play in Josh Dodd but his shot lacked power and was easily dealt with by the visitors’ goalkeeper.

Emley edged in front on 21 minutes with a simple close range header from Ruben Jerome.

Armthorpe responded moments later with Luke Williams cutting inside only to find the side netting.

Three minutes from the break, however, it was 2-0 when Shane Hamilton sidefooted in a low cross.

Carmody’s men were given hope two minutes into the second half when Emley defender Dan Stocker was shown a straight red card for taking out Williams who was through on goal.

Mansaram headed just wide at the back post and then from a corner Josh Bucknall could only put a free header over the crossbar.

With four minutes remaining Armthorpe finally got a goal back. Williams finished into the bottom corner after being played in by Aaron Hodgson but the hosts could not find an equaliser.

“I was a little disappointed with the performance,” said boss Carmody.

“For the first quarter of the game Emley were the better side and deserved their advantage.

“The sending off changed the the game and had the free-kick gone in and not crashed against the crossbar we would probably see a different game.

“We got in some some good areas but I felt our quality in the final third let us down.”

It will take some doing for Maltby to better last season’s fifth place finish in the Premier Division.

But they got just the start they were hoping for with a 2-0 victory over Harrogate Railway Athletic at Muglet Lane with both goals coming from summer signing Danny Frost.