HEXHAM Hearts endured a tough start to life in Division One.

For they shipped in 15 goals to reigning champions Haltwhistle Jubilee , who showed little mercy on the newly promoted club as they start out on their pursuit for a fifth successive league title.

Haltwhistle were full of attacking intent and had Dan Kirkup and man of the match Mark Robson both helping themselves to five goals.

Greg Irwin hit the back of the net twice, and there were also strikes from James Charteries, Scott Jacobsen and debutant David Hall. John Robson was named man of the match for Hearts.

Fellow promoted side Heddon St Andrew’s , who won the Division Two title in their Hexham debut last year, also suffered defeat as they went down 4-1 to Hexham Phoenix .

The visitors will hope to push Haltwhistle all the way again this year and started on fire, Tony Lancaster scoring twice and Luke Parkinson once to go with a Heddon own goal. Tom Hacking was named man of the match, with goalkeeper David Wadds earning the equivalent for Heddon, who had Mark Murtagh on target.

Halfway House Prudhoe came from three goals behind at the break to defeat town rivals Prudhoe Social Club 5-3.

With thanks to a hat-trick from Sam Moore and singles from Jack Stoddart and man of the match Jack L’Argent, they earned three points from a losing position as man of the match Stefan Rainbow, James Curry and James Watson netted for Social.

Barrasford are up-and-running in style as they hit 10-man Prudhoe Town for six.

Man of the match Unpha Koroma and Will Forsyth both bagged braces, and Marc Nixon and Owen Murtough got one each, and the score could have been a lot higher if not for an excellent performance from Town goalkeeper Paul Bell. Prudhoe’s only goal came from Ben Dobson.

Haltwhistle Railway are hoping to push for top honours in Division Two, and they got off to a good start by defeating newcomers Ponteland Village 4-1.

A change in formation to 4-3-3 helped them to the victory, Jack Rogan scoring two and Stu Sproul and Andrew Wrightson one apiece for the hosts who had new signing Jack Barker impressing. Man of the match Jack Pattison replied for Ponteland.

Ryton Country House needed two late goals to earn all three points from their trip to Hexhamshire , best served by Jonny Hodges. The game was goalless until 10 minutes remaining, Jada James and man of the match Jordan Martlew securing the win.

Their neighbours Ryton Hotel ran Haydon Bridge Anchor close but succumbed to a 4-3 defeat, inspired by a Kieran Robley hat-trick.

Robley’s teammate Darren Dobson had given Haydon Bridge the lead early in the game, but Ryton made a fist of it with their goals coming from man of the match Ben Coulson, Owen Lee and Alex Skelton.

Carrying on his excellent form from last year which saw him awarded more man of the matches than any other player in the division, Kev MacDonald picked up the opening day accolade.

l A handful of games took place on Tuesday evening, with Hexham Hearts bouncing back to get their first point in the higher division.

Steven Leetham and Duncan Scott got their goals, and Callum Snowball was man of the match, in their 2-2 draw with Barrasford , who had man of the match Marc Nixon and Gareth Rhodes on target.

Ryton Country Hotel made it two wins from two in Division Two with a 3-0 win over newcomers Prudhoe Town East End , courtesy of strikes from Martin Smith, Adam Bell and a wonder goal from Andrew Below as he ran the length of the pitch to net.

A hat-trick from Kieran Ellis saw Ponteland Village pick up their first points of the campaign as they defeated Adam and Eve Prudhoe 5-2. The man of the match was joined on the scoresheet by teammates Ryan Spragg and James Pattison, with Prudhoe’s man of the match Shaun Lyall and Nathan Moore replying.