THERE have been goals aplenty across the divisions in the Southend Sunday Sceptre League.

In division one, it’s Attero who have been making all of the early play with a massive 19 points bagged from their first seven matches and with six wins and a draw to their name they are a team in a hurry.

Their clash this weekend against Trinity United was called off – but the battle at the top of Division One remains fierce. Victories over Troop Hall (a 2-1 win on the first day of the season and then a home walkover) plus a 7-0 thrashing of Berry FC and victories over ISLA Athletic FC, and Trinity United (both 3-0) plus a 2-2 draw with Essex Royals have set the team apart.

Attero lead a chasing bunch which includes Essex Royals, Troop Hall and Wickbeech FC.

The Sceptre’s top division has seen a tough start for its newest member, Lansdowne Rangers.

Sceptre secretary Dave McCoy said that he was delighted with the way the restructured leagues had panned out, and pleased Lansdowne were scrapping hard.

“Lansdowne were promoted at the end of last season, but have had a difficult start to this term.

“They have played five or six times and not won yet, but they are out for the sheer fun of it.

“They turn up each weekend and play in what is a very difficult league.

“I know their manager Graham Rix well and he’s a good manager and a very decent guy.

“I suppose the secret of this team is that they just love playing football and I know that they socialise well after the games.

“During the summer we had to rebuild the league. It was hard to do but worthwhile,” he added.

The Sceptre League has dropped from 10 to six divisions for this season to keep each of the league at a decent size.

There has been lots of other action lower down the league too, with a fierce five goal thriller in division five where Pro Tech FC scooped a 3-2 victory over Woodys at Basildon to keep Pro Tech’s chase of league leaders East Park alive.

Pro Tech now trail East Park by six points.

Canvey-based Sceptre chairman Malcolm Binstead, 72, said the competition from division one to division six was improved.

And, in fact, trimming the leagues had improved the quality of football plus player and club satisfaction with the Sceptre League.

He said: “There are 12 teams in most of the divisions now and we are always trying to improve things. It’s hard at the moment because you get youngsters going off to university now so you get a drop off when players move away.

“More of the youngsters go to university now than they used to in the old days.

“We had 17 teams fold from last season, and clubs are definitely finding it much more difficult to find sponsorship for the leagues.

“But I believe that the standard of play in the leagues is more equal now than it used to be.”

Binstead is a firm believer in leagues having a social responsibility regarding officials.

Binstead said: “We are the only league around which sponsors – pays for referees. We fund the young refs’ training and think that this means that all our games are properly reffed by competent young refs which in turn means a high standard.

“We’ve appointed John Dearman as the league’s representative team manager. That’s working well and should mean some good games against the other league representative sides,” he added.

Binstead also said that Sceptre’s committment to local Sunday football meant that he’d been involved in championing inter-league meetings.

This had involved bringing in veterans and local authorities so that the various parts of Sunday football all felt that they had their individual voices heard.

“We meet three times a year and go through any problems. This has been a very positive thing and means we have a good rapport.

“We are looking at getting more funding to get improved facilities.

“At the moment I’m waiting on the local authority, but if I could I’d spend on improving the car parking at Holy Cross Rec where the parking is difficult,” he added.