Westfields 0 Biddulph Victoria 3

WESTFIELDS found that their lively start counted for nothing as they crashed to their first Midland Alliance defeat of the season.

Biddulph had lost both of their first two games but withstood strong early pressure from the city side to score twice from set-pieces and once from a breakaway.

A low shot from Paul Burton and a drive from Mark Hubbard went wide of the mark in the opening exchanges before the Stoke-on-Trent-based visitors took the lead against the run of play on 29 minutes.

Biddulph won a free-kick on the right and skipper Scott Burge leapt high to head home the cross.

Westfields pushed forward in a bid to level before the break and captain Scott Jackson saw a 20-yarder well saved and then headed over from a good position.

The home side continued to dominate as the second-half opened with Mark Davis heading straight at Biddulph keeper Danny Ithinar from eight yards. But Burge again showed the home side how it should be done when he nipped in front of goalkeeper Jon Pugh from a rare Victoria corner to head home again.

With Westfields now chasing the game, Tom Pope netted the third from a Burge cross a minute from time to wrap up their win.