TAWNY Owl are looking to maintain their perch at the top of the Swindon & District Football League Premier Division table for as long as possible after starting the year in fine style.

Jack Allan netted five times to add to a hat-trick from Jamie Sheppard and a Dan Thompson strike as the unbeaten league leaders completed a 9-1 win over bottom placed DJC Marlborough.

The only blemish of the afternoon came when Craig Smith, who is known to his team mates as Rocky, lived up to his nickname as he saw red after coming on from the subs bench in the second half.

“It was a comfortable win for us and to finish 9-1, we were quite happy with that,” said joint manager Ajay Sahota.

“The pitch was terrible, it was so boggy you could have easily called that game off.

“We were down to 10 men in the second half. The player we brought on as a sub went up front and you could just tell he was going to get himself sent off and he had about two or three chances from the ref before he had to go.

“That aside it was a very good win.

“It was good to see the first game after the break we picked things up from where we left off from.

“Over Christmas we had a couple of training sessions, which we haven’t done before and that really helped.

“It was nice to see the boys were still looking sharp and hungry because, although we got knocked out of the Wilts Cup which we are still a bit bitter about because we didn’t have the best team, we still want to win the league and cup and want to keep our standards high.”

Meanwhile, six goals from Blaine Fitzgerald saw Avtar keep the pressure on the league leaders as they beat KS Miltax 7-1, with Scott Price getting the other goal for the hosts.

Spectrum recorded their third win of the season as Adam Jack and Craig Kelly scored to secure a 2-1 win over Lower Stratton, with Diogo Casiniro scoring a consolation goal for the hosts.

In the only game in Division One, North Swindon ran out comfortable 7-2 winners over Ramsbury with Daniel Knight getting four to add to a brace from Jason Hodson and a goal from Ryan Baxter.