ATHERTON Town striker Phil Hornby had a golden day with all four goals in his team's 4-4 Finnair Manchester Football League Premier Division draw at Mitchell Shackleton.

Town were denied the services of centre backs John Elliott and Steve Dixon for the game through work commitments and after just ten minutes of play were facing a three goal deficit.

A combination of slack marking, a fortuitous deflection and a 30 yard wonder strike gifted the home club a dream start. Fortunately for Town Hornby was on top of his considerable form and twice before the interval he had reduced the arrears with almost identical left foot precision drives.

Five minutes into the second period Hornby almost had his shirt ripped of his back in charging through and completed his hat-trick from the resultant penalty kick. Having fought back to level Town now took the lead as keeper Gary Osborne kicked long and Hornby's pace left defenders trailing to again finish with quality.

A similar situation a few moments later had the hotshot striker searching for number five only to be denied by a heavy challenge that had the Town camp furious when penalty appeals were turned away. Ironically it was a penalty at the other end that denied Town all three points when Scott Hodson was harshly adjudged to have fouled by the inconsistent match official. Tempers began to fray and a Mitchell player was sent for an early bath. Not surprisingly Hornby was named Leighton Packaging man of the match. Town Reserves beat Elton Fold 5-1 at home with goals from Danny Meakin (2), Gary Fitzmartin, Johnny Harrop and Dave Brookes.