Littleton 0, Handsworth 3

PROMOTED Handsworth inflicted a rare opening day defeat on Littleton last Saturday.

The visitors were somewhat flattered by their margin of victory and they survived numerous scares in front of goal on an afternoon when Lady Luck deserted Littleton.

Handsworth dominated the opening exchanges and took the lead after 15 minutes when a mishit header evaded the reach of goalkeeper Mickey Harris.

The goal only served to inspire the Five Acres outfit and Simon Brain was denied an equaliser when he was harshly adjudged offside after Joe Wright's shot had been beaten out.

Brain's volley was then inches off target while the lively Wright saw another effort cleared off the line before the relieved visitors trooped off for their interval refreshment.

It obviously worked as Hand-sworth tripled their tally in the opening few minutes after the restart.

After initially feeling sorry for themselves, Littleton rolled up their sleeves and attacked with tremendous vigour. Several chances were created but good goalkeeping and last-ditch clearances prevented the home side from getting back into a game sponsored by K L Evesham Ltd.

Littleton travel to Loughbor-ough on Saturday before completing a Bank Holiday Midland Combination Division One double-header with a home clash with Worcestershire rivals Archdales on Monday that starts at 5.45pm.