Durham University have made a perfect start to the North Premier Men's Hockey League with maximum points from four games and top the table.

And goal a game Nick Gay has handed out an early warning to defences.

He maintained his excellent run with a second-half Sunday strike which defeated Hull 1-0, following a goal in a 2-1 win over City of York the previous day. Paul Dinning scored the students other goal.

The University, at Ben Rhydding - 6-1 home winners over Warrington last week - tomorrow started the season with 2-1 wins against Sheffield and Warrington.

But University coach John Crewe is a hard taskmaster. He said: "I don't think we are playing as well as we can, by a long way.

"But we are defending very well, although may be a bit short on ideas. We have a lot of scope to improve."

However, there is still little joy for Norton who, not so long ago were knocking on the national league door. They lost 5-1 at Alderley Edge