WITH 15 minutes to go before kick off and no sign of a referee, the chronic shortage of officials to cover games at local league level was hammered home.

After frantic telephone calls to the league administratorsthe side were informed that no referee had been appointed - there are just not enough to go round - and Malcolm Goldsworthy, who happened to be doing a bit of DIY in Langho's almost complete new clubhouse, was press-ganged into action.

He was able to manage the first half, then it was back to the plumbing and was replaced in the second half by James Masterman and a creditable job they both did.

Which is more than can be said for Pleasington.

They were, to put it bluntly, a disaster.

As Langho rattled in four in the first 30 minutes, they looked totally out of their depth.

The catalogue of errors served up by Pleasington's defence was enough to drive goalkeeper Andy Quirk into retirement and take up DIY himself.

Langho's first strike came in the 10th minute when a Jason Heald cross found Simon Brown and he made no mistake from close range. The next three came courtesy of the Pleasington defence.

In a two minute spell which must have seemed like two weeks for Pleasington defender Dave Quirk.

First he somehow managed to slice his attempted clearance, backwards, over the head of his own keeper to make the score 2-0.

Then within seconds of the restart he gave away a penalty after hackingdown Rodger Wilkins. Simon Brown stepped up to make it 3-0.

When Brown completed his hat-trick in the 32nd minute to make it 4-0 with another well struck spot-kick, following a foul on Damian Taylor, you began to wonder if it could get any worse.

It did - but not immediately.

Steve Bowker restored some Pleasington pride when he met Andy Cookson's cross and beat Langho keeper, Van Boeckel, at the second attempt from six yards.

After the break Langho completely swamped their opponents as Rodger Wilkins decided at last to live up to the accolades bestowed on him prior to the game.

I had been told that he was a bit special, but up to half-time I couldn't see what all the fuss was about.

As if to read my mind Wilkins decided to put on a show and his first party-piece was a show-stopper.

Picking the ball up wide on the left, he looked to be in a good position to cross, but to the dismay of Andy Quirk and his defence, he let loose with a thundering shot from 20 yards that flew into the net and there wasn't anyone on the ground apart from Wilkins himself who had an inkling it was going to happen.

Sixty seconds later and two defenders left sprawling on the ground, he cracked a low 15 yard drive neatly into the corner to make it 6-1. Wilkins then set up Damian Taylor, who smartly rifled home number seven, before collecting a through ball from Simon Brown, beating two defenders and cutting a shot across Andy Quirk for the far post to complete a remarkable hat-trick.

Andy Cookson pulled one back for Pleasington from the penalty spot in the 68th minute and Langho keeper Jan Van Boeckel, stepped up and beat the long suffering Andy Quirk to make the score 9-2.

In the last minute Damian Taylor added insult to injury when Jason Heald picked him out with a pinpoint cross and Taylor gave Quirk no chance from 10 yards out.

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