CITY Of York I are off the bottom of the Northern Hockey League first division.

They began the second half of a troubled season with a 3-1 victory over fellow strugglers Southport and have been replaced at the foot of the table by Didsbury.

York grabbed the lead when Alex Cockram intercepted a stray pass in midfield and fed Chris Wilson, who rounded the Southport goalkeeper to score.

The lead was short-lived as the visitors levelled with a penalty stroke after a short corner hit a York defender's foot on the line.

However, York were not fazed and regained the lead before the interval when Wilson set up Kyle Hogg for a tap-in at the back post.

Southport forced York to defend several short corners after the break but the home side held firm and took control of midfield through Simon Grey and Wilson.

Nick Carter, making a successful return to first-team action, dominated the latter stages and York sealed victory ten minutes from the end with Hogg's second goal.

First-team joy was in stark contrast to second-team misery as a young and inexperienced side crashed 8-0 at Richmond in NHL division two east.

In Yorkshire League division one, City of York III gained revenge for their 4-3 defeat at Dinnington in November by reversing the scoreline on Saturday.

Ed Marsden, Matt Tippier and Richard Cockram all scored before half-time but Dinnington pulled a couple of goals back before Tippier's second gave York a two-goal cushion. Dinnington never gave up and reduced the arrears but York were never in danger of losing their lead.

Goals from Phil Hamilton, Chris Allerton (2), Richard Tanner-Smith and Rob Wise gave City of York V a 5-0 win at Bradford in division four.

Skipper Tim Jolly put City of York VI ahead at West Yorkshire Police I but they were pegged back and needed a Greg Sykes strike five minutes from the end to claim victory in division five.

Simon Burton (2), Neil Reader and Nick Kay got on the scoresheet as City of York VII cruised to a 4-1 division eight victory over Chapletown III which featured a solid debut in defence by John Garbutt.

City of York VIII went down 3-0 at division nine leaders Syngenta, while City of York IX crashed 7-0 at Halifax IV in division ten.

City of York IV's game against Sheffield Hallam V was cancelled.

The York club have qualified for next month's Yorkshire Indoor Cup finals day by beating Huddersfield I 6-3 and Leeds I 6-1.