IN THE 48 years of hockey at Parkgate, rarely can there have been a more remarkable game than the one witnessed last Saturday, when Neston South Wirral eventually overcame Manchester 9-6, in North Division Two.

Before Christmas, Neston couldn't buy a goal, while their defence was amongst the meanest in the league, so Saturday's goal fest was somewhat out of character.

The giant figure of Kasim Mughal started what was an amazing afternoon for him personally, when he launched a flick into the Neston net early on, only for Lawrence McNeight and Rogier Van Der Ouderaa to put the home team in front.

Mughal struck again though midway through the first period, before Van Der Ouderaa continued the tit-for-tat with a trademark penalty corner.

Inevitably, Mughal levelled for Manchester with yet another set piece, but Dan Khedun rifled home before the interval to give Neston a 4-3 lead.

Mughal continued to terrorise the Neston defence after the break, as his unorthodox style proved difficult to combat, and within ten minutes of the re-start he had scored his fourth and fifth goals from identical penalty corners.

Without Mughal though, Manchester offered little, and McNeight levelled from the penalty spot as Neston exploited huge gaps in midfield. Aled Jarvis put the Parkgate men 6-5 in front, but Mughal struck his sixth of the game to square things up.

With the game relatively low on quality but high on incident, it was the umpires turn to get involved as they sin-binned Neston's Rob Cookson and Manchester's Faisal Khan, before Van Der Ouderaa fired in his third to edge Neston in front again.

Mughal had a couple of further opportunities but Neston put their bodies on the line to block, and Ian Pringle managed to make it 8-6 when his miss-hit beat the keeper.

Neston's Barry Roberts was also dismissed for dissent, but McNeight finally wrapped things up when he converted a late penalty for his hat-trick.

This Saturday, Neston will have to improve as they travel to league leaders Didsbury.