Weymouth & Portland celebrated their first point in the National League when a goal by Jason Quiterio with 56 seconds remaining earned a 12-12 draw with City of Cambridge at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

The game was probably the most entertaining of the Division Four programme at Sheffield – with a sharing of the spoils a fair return as far as both sides were concerned.

The teams were evenly matched all the way through. Quiterio – the youngest referee on the NWPL panel – scored four of the Weymouth & Portland goals. Ludford (4) and Gregory (3) were the chief Cambridge marksmen.

Ealing, City of Birmingham and University of Bristol lead the table, each having won four out of five matches so far.

For Ealing, the weekend brought a real goal spree – a grand total of 63 in victories over Weymouth & Portland (28-11), Cambridge (15-10) and Newcastle (20-10).

Gary Tonks and Hook each scored four in Birmingham’s 10-7 success against Bristol University. Birmingham then defeated Croydon Amphibians 11-5 and hammered struggling Basingstoke 32-4 – with ex-international Tonks netting ten.

Four goals by Holland helped Newcastle secure a 6-5 victory over Cambridge, who fought back from 5-2 down at one stage.

There was another close match between Croydon and Bristol University. Early in the final period, the sides were level at 8-8. Then two late goals by Sean Taylor and another by Ed Ross earned Bristol the points with an 11-8 win.

The promotion battle will hot up at Walsall on 6/7 October, when Ealing’s programme includes matches against University of Bristol and Birmingham.