PROMOTED Holton-le-Clay pulled off an early shock in division one of the Grimsby, Cleethorpes and District Sunday League when they beat last season's treble winners Seven Seas 4-1.

Having already kicked off their new life in the top flight with a 1-0 defeat, Holton knew they needed a good result from this game in order to get their first points on the board.

But it appeared a tough task ahead against the all-conquering Seas side.

Holton manager Dave Allen also had five players drop out at the last minute due to injuries and work commitments.

So, he was down to a just 12 players with several forced to play out of position.

But they performed admirably on the day.

Other than allowing Seas time and space for the first 15 minutes, Holton soon found their rhythm which may have taken Seas by surprise.

From one to 11, all Holton's players got under the skin of their opposition, while playing open attacking football which had Seas on the back foot for large parts of the first half.

Holton did have the ball in the back of the net just before the break, but it was disallowed for offside.

The first-half finished with Seas feeling the frustration probably more than Holton, as they were in a spirited mood from playing out a very good first half.

The message to Holton's players for the second half was more of the same but be more ruthless in front of goal.

And they began the second half in the same way and it was not long before the chances started to come again.

Matty Knight rolled back the years up front alongside the rejuvenated Gaz Flint, and they were superbly supported by the midfield of Dave Elkington, Gaz Mason, Danny Peterson and Ashley Greenbeck.

The "brick-wall" back four of Chris Chalk, Jamie Pearson, Thomas Boxall and Joe Barker were also solid behind them.

If there ever was a contender for "route-one" goal of the year, then Holton's first was probably just that.

Ben Mills, Holton's keeper, launched one of his trademark goal-kicks which evaded all of Seas' outfield players and the only person alive to the long punt was Flint, who superbly beat Seas' oncoming keeper to slide past him from a very acute angle.

Holton did not keep the lead for long, as one of Seas players pinged a 30-yarder from nowhere which caught Mills off his line.

However, Flint was determined to regain the advantage and he coolly and cleverly chipped the Seas keeper from close range after being put through by Knight.

At 2-1 up, Holton were looking more and more in control and as the game wore on, Seas appeared more and more frustrated.

Flint was to get his well-deserved hat-trick when fine football by Holton's midfield allowed Knight to play another super ball through to the striker and he slipped it past the Seas keeper.

With only 10 minutes left, Holton were awarded a free-kick from 20 yards out.

Greenbeck struck the ball and it hit Peterson on the thigh to take a wicked deflection past the Seas keeper.

It rounded off a memorable day for Holton but they will need to build on it in future games.

Seven Seas 2nds fared much better in division two, registering a good 6-0 away win at Cromwell.

Team Red Star (Lee Chisnall (two), Joe Burns, Sean Ford) also had a decent away victory, 4-0 against Hartwell County.

Immingham Bluestone (Richard Simpson (four), Rikki Chapman (two), Perry Franklin) continued their good start with a 7-2 victory over Healing (J Thomson (two)).

Gy Gunners (Stuart Inch (three), Daniel Carter, Daniel Robbins, Jason Langley) completed the fixtures in this division with a 6-3 victory over S W Steelers (Tom Gibbins, Ash Cormack, Nick Rook).

In division three, DMS FC beat Trawl FC 2-1 with goals from captain Tom Avison and Gary Kilday.

Adam Johnstone replied for Trawl, while Police won 2-1 against Old Clee.

Both the Police goals were scored by Andy Painter with Piotr Jozwiak replying for Old Clee.

Paul Leshone and Ash Sarbutt scored for Grimsby Warriors in their 2-1 victory over Millfields (Aaron Love).

Elsewhere, Louth Town were amongst the goals when they beat Drinksy Building Cricketers 5-1, taking their tally to 12 in their two league games so far.

On target for Louth were Andrew Hunter (two), Jamie Aldrich, Daniel Pawson and Ian Riddall. Scott Evans scored for Cricketers.

Andrew Hargreaves and Rob Mair scored for Number 2 FC in their 2-1 division four victory over Grange Crowland (John Higton).

Caistor Rovers had a resounding victory, 8-0 against Spiders Web.

Andrew Taylor bagged five goals while Paul Lockington and Nathan Smith scored one apiece.

Crows Nest beat Humberston Grosvenor (Jason Green) 2-1 in the other game in this division.

In division five, Immingham Town (Ben Coultas, Dan Robinson (two)) narrowly beat AFC Wybers 3-2 (Adam Horsfall, Danny Leak), while Newtons Athletic had a decent 6-2 victory over AFC Nitro.

Luke O'Hara (four), Alex Long and Jake Wynne scored for Newtons with Stuart Sadler and Scott Waite replying for Nitro.

Deportivo won 8-0 away to Old Lloyds in a game where Nathan Crooks and David Maggs both scored hat-tricks.

Patrick Kershaw and an own goal accounted for the other goals. Fairdeal Carpets (Sam Woods, Chris Wilson) won 2-1 away to FC Willows Community (Zak Smith).

A hat-trick from Jimmy Nicholson and one apiece for Kerry Chapman and Antony Maggs ensured A to Z Trading bagged three division six points in their 5-1 win against Crows Nest 2nds (Richard Walker).

Smugglers AFC drew 1-1 with Tap & Spile 2nds (Tom Collingwood), while Clee Workingmens (Dale Winterburn, Brad Wright) won 2-1 away to Tower Bucharest (David Robinson).

In division seven, Aston Estates won 4-3 away to Cromwell Rovers with goals from Robbie Blake (two), Danny Beecham and Tom Wadby. Lewis Butler, Wayne Tasker and Lee Williams were on the scoresheet for Cromwell.

AFC Cleethorpes won 5-1 against The Albion (Danny Walters), while Cleethorpes Town (Liam Higton, Joshua Sharp (two), Jamie Torrington) beat Buddies II Athletic (lee Sadler) 4-1 and Crows Nest 3rds (Kevin King (two), Kevan Short) scored three without reply against RH Construction.

RIS beat Caistor Rovers 2nds 9-1 in division eight with hat-tricks from man-of-the-match Sean Thompson and Tyler Wilgus, a brace from Shane Bennett and a further goal from Dan Klug. Kieran Togher replied for Rovers.

Abatis Fire & Security beat Laceby Arms 1-0 with a goal in the second half from Pierce Dundridge.

Elsewhere, FC United of Grimsby knocked in 10 goals against Grimsby Fireplace Centre who managed one themselves.

James Bristow (five), Chris Hurton (two) and David Tutty (two) scored for United.

Red Star Old Boys (Ian Blackmore, Simon Chapple, Roberto Gibbs, Nick Woodhall, Darren Mussell) went nap against East Marsh FC, winning 5-0, while Winns FC beat Dolphin Car Wash 3-1.

In the Humber Cup South Bank Final at King George pitches, Grimsby's Birds Eye played against the winners of the Scunthorpe section, Janneys All Stars.

Birds Eye had the better of the early stages and should have taken the lead with several chances going begging.

The compact All Stars team weathered the storm and John Barnard broke clear after 25 minutes to put his side into a deserved lead at half-time.

Their lead was increased after five minutes of the second period when the All Stars were awarded a penalty and skipper Martin McKenzie made no mistake with his spot kick to provide a more comfortable cushion for his side.

Birds Eye continued to attack but the Stars battled well and never looked like conceding a goal and they emerged winners to go into the final at Barton against Hull opposition.