THE County League's festive programme suffered greatly at the hands of some atrocious weather over the New Year weekend, although the matches that did go ahead produced some interesting results.

On January 1, the first matchday after the Christmas break, only three games survived. On a day where the wind and rain had more control than the players, high-flying Thornbury Town had cause to celebrate after a fine win at home against Taverners as they came back from being 2-1 down at the break.

Ricky Gaskell and Mark Harsant opened the scoring for Taverners. An Andy Brookbanks penalty just before the break kept Town in touch and they had to rely on a Ross Irwin 30-yard drive to put them level.

Brookbanks added his second to put Thornbury ahead and with five minutes to go Alex Moss popped up to seal all three points as Thornbury celebrated the new year with another excellent result.

The weather controlled the match between AXA and Highridge United as both sides found it difficult in the wind and rain. Highridge goalkeeper Richard Jenkins brought off two classy saves to keep Highridge in the game and gain them a valuable point.

Viney St Swithins' problems seemed to be resolved as they competed after a three week lay-off from league action, but visitors Yate Town Reserves found the net through Grant Brown and the experienced Terry Moore as they took all three points, leaving Viney bottom of the table.

On Monday, January 3, Patchway Town overcame old rivals Henbury Old Boys in a local derby to take a further three points in their drive towards the title. Jason Ford and Matt Webb hit the net for Patchway and Henbury responded with a strike by Ben Forder.

Ellwood slipped up away at Hardwicke, a result which means that Longwell Green Sports stay on top of the table without even kicking a ball. The damage was done with strikes from Brad Archer and Adam Hacker as Hardwicke recorded a fine victory.

King's Stanley stayed in touch with the leading group as they took three points at home to Wotton Rovers. Stanley went in at the break with a 3-0 lead after strikes from Danny Stephens, Steve Walker and Scott Cumberlin. The second half belonged to Wotton but they could only hit the net once through Paul Bleaken.