LEIGH Athletic produced the performance of the week in the FBT Manchester League Division One when they held league leaders Elton Vale to a 4-4 draw.

Third bottom of the table with just two wins to their name this season, the Latics led 3-1 at one stage with goals from Andy Hill (two) and Jack Dooley before running out of steam as the home side, who are eight points clear at the top of the table, recovered to lead 4-3 with five minutes to go.

Despite being handicapped by injuries – they were forced to use their only two substitutes at half time – the men from Leigh Sports Village rescued a hard-earned but well-deserved point when Jack Kenny grabbed the equaliser.

And they might have claimed all three if Kenny had not been caught marginally offside when he had the ball in the net with seconds to go.

Atherton Town went down 4-3 at Hollinwood, where the home side scored from three penalties.

The Howe Bridge side twice came from behind to be level at half time with goals from Hemsley Mills and Shane Heaton.

Hollinwood’s second line-up and third penalties gave them a 4-2 lead after the interval to put them in charge, but Town, who have been unable to field a settled team for much of the season, recovered well and were back in the game when Mills scored his second 20 minutes from time.

And they felt hard done by at the end when centre-back Chris Nuttall was held back at a corner, only for the referee to wave away their penalty appeals.

“We’re just not getting the rub of the green at the moment,” said manager Shaun Lynch. “I can’t get any consistency going on team selection and decisions keep going against us. Of their three penalties, one was a good decision but the other two were debateble to say the least, while ours at the end was definitely a pen.”

Nothing went right for Breightmet United as they went down to a 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Beechfield United, who started the match 11 points below them in the league table.

Trailing 3-0 at half time, the Moss Park men had a chance to get back in the game when they were awarded a penalty with 20 minutes to go, only for Tommy Williams to blaze his spot kick over the bar for the second week running. The disappointment was compounded when the visitors scored a fourth goal late on.