Windswept Harrogate Railway steamed to an emphatic 5-0 win over lowly Brodsworth Welfare.

Danny Spence set the ball rolling with two first half strikes before three second half efforts put the Northern Counties East League premier division game well beyond reach of the visitors.

Spence made up for an earlier discretion that had seen him booked in the 11th minute with a speculative cross-cum-shot that was helped in by the wind and the hapless Welfare goalkeeper on 20 minutes, before doubling the lead with a sweetly struck volley eight minutes before half-time.

Spence turned provider for Chris Howarth in the 68th minute when he found him with a neat slide-rule pass. Substitute Jason Day was the perfect wall in a one-two for Andy Shuttleworth to fire home the fourth, while Damien Henderson's fifth came after a fortunate deflection off one of the Brodsworth defenders much to the delight of the York City fans behind the goal, who bolstered the attendance after the late postponement of their clash against Yeovil Town at Bootham Crescent.

Said Rail manager Martin Haresign: "It was never going to be a fantastic game of football with the conditions as they were. But we managed to keep the ball down well, all things considered.

"I thought it was going to be one of those days when we didn't convert some of our early chances but we kept our shape and discipline and got the result."

Meanwhile, schoolboy errors again cost Harrogate Town the chance of three points in the UniBond League premier division as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat at Southport.

A gust of wind took the ball away from centre-half Simon Sturdy to let Southport grab an equaliser, Chris Hudson was given the slip by his marker for their second and ex-Leeds and Darlington stopper Neil Aspin 'rugby-tackled' an advancing raider on the hour to concede a penalty adding up to three goals and another defeat.

Manager John Reed said: "At the moment we are making an awful lot of mistakes and we are being punished every single time.

"To go to Southport and score two goals you expect to come away with something but when you make mistakes that's not going to happen."

Marc Smith opened the scoring with a sweet volley on 15 minutes for his second goal in three games since returning from suspension, but he left the pitch in agony minutes later after picking up a nasty ankle injury, the severity of which is not yet known.

Colin Hunter and Robbie Whellans linked up well for Whellans to curl the ball home in the 66th minute but the damage was already done and neither Sturdy, nor ex-York City front-man James Turley, could convert late chances for the equaliser.

Pickering Town continued their rise up the NCEL premier division with a solid 3-1 win over one-time leaders Brigg Town.

Pickering swept to a 3-0 half-time lead before conceding a dubious penalty and having two further goals disallowed.

Alex Willgrass, Mark Wood and Tom Adams were all on target but a Gavin Dickinson strike that went straight in from a corner was mysteriously disallowed for a foul on the 'keeper, while a Mark Swales tap-in was ruled out for offside.

Pikes boss Steve Brown said: "I was really pleased with the calibre of performance in difficult conditions. That's the second time we have beaten top teams in recent weeks so that's a good six points that keeps things moving on."

Elsewhere in the premier division,

Goole's match against Mickleover Sports was postponed, while Selby Town's game at Glasshoughton Welfare was abandoned with the score at 0-0 after 22 minutes due to an unplayable pitch.

Tadcaster Albion's NCEL division one woe deepened with a 5-0 thrashing at Maltby Main.

Updated: 12:12 Monday, March 22, 2004