Tadcaster Albion opened their Northern Counties East League division one campaign with a stunning 4-3 away win at Hall Road Rangers.

The hosts had been one of the early promotion contenders last season whereas Albion ended with the wooden spoon after a troublesome campaign. But Wayne Day's men turned the tables with an excellent performance.

Rangers undeservedly went ahead with a controversial penalty scored by Paul Palmer but Albion hit back through Mally Bolland and then a Rich Howley spot kick after Kevin Duckworth was brought down.

Two minutes into the second half, Duckworth netted a 30-yarder be-fore Rangers scored with a second disputed penalty to make it 3-2.

Within a few minutes a fine Albion move ended with Howley setting up Steve Batley to make it 4-2 before Rangers finished the scoring in 12 minutes of stoppage time.

Day said: "The scoreline makes it look closer than it was. I'm happy with the three points and more than happy with the performance."

Selby Town also began with a bang, winning 2-0 at Liversedge. Neil Dillan headed into his own goal to give the Robins the lead and Nigel Croad netted from just outside the box in the last minute to make the game safe.

Danny Ames grabbed an equaliser just five minutes from time to hand Harrogate Railway a respectable 1-1 draw with Arnold Town after Matt Irons had netted the opener.

Reigning NCEL premier division champions Brigg Town opened the new campaign with a hard-fought 1-0 defeat of Goole, who themselves are one of the favourites for promotion.

Simon Drayton scored the only goal of the game on ten minutes, but Goole were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet themselves.

Updated: 11:52 Monday, August 20, 2001