BEN Lodge’s early goal kept up Fairford Town’s perfect start to the new Hellenic League Premier Division season following a 1-0 win at Brimscombe & Thrupp last night.

Jody Bevan’s side have now won all three league games they have played in the 2019-20 campaign, and only Binfield – who have played an extra game – can boast more points.

The Cinder Lane side sealed the win thanks to a rapid start at The Meadow, with Lodge getting the only goal of the game with just three minutes on the clock.

While Fairford were thankful for flying out of the traps, Shrivenham were left to rue getting stuck in their own as they were thumped 6-1 at Bishops Cleeve.

Gareth Davies’ side were 3-0 down midway through the first half and never recovered to leave them on one win and three points from three league games so far.

Shrivvy got off to a nightmare start and fell behind inside four minutes as Elliott Kennedy latched onto a long ball over the top.

And it went from bad to worse after just 10 minutes when Liam Wright capitalised on a mix-up in the visiting back-line to double Cleeve’s lead.

Another defensive error saw the home side move three goals to the good midway through the half as Jack Watts pounced when a clearance from Shrrivy keeper Michael Alexander cannoned off a defender.

Shrivenham gave themselves a lifeline just before the half-hour mark as Josh Morse’s long-range shot found the bottom corner of the net to cut the deficit to two goals.

However, any hopes that goal was the start of a fightback were cut short four minutes before the break, with Watts grabbing his second following a rapid break following a Shrivvy corner to make it 4-1 to the hosts at half-time.

There was no let-up for the visitors in the second half as Ryan New made it 5-1 before Watts finished off a miserable night for Shrivvy when he completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot at the death.