Manchester Wolves maintained their excellent start to the season in a 5-3 thriller against Billinge in the Cheshire Vets League Division Four.

On another beautiful late summer day in Gorton the Wolves ambled to victory against an average Billinge team who kept on going for 90 minutes.

The main early feature of most games is the opposition who tended to have played together for years keep the ball well but rarely threaten.

Wolves still seem to struggle to pass through the midfield often losing the ball in key areas – and that tended to happen again.

After about 20 minutes the game settled down and we started to open the opposition up but chances came and went-Yaffe and Chape the culprits.

Step forward Stu Cartwright who replicated his scorcher against Birkenhead with a whipped shot that kissed the bar before setting in the top corner.

This settled Wolves down as two goals followed in quick succession with Peter Chape finishing both nicely-walking his second and our third around the keeper.

Just before half time the opposition reduced the deficit with a wonder strike with a bit of “swazz” on it that wrong footed keeper Kaye.

However, the three-goal margin was restored when a penalty was awarded for a foul and Chape secured a first-half hat-trick as Wolves led 4-1 at the break.

The second half saw the sun out in all its glory and chance after chance came and went as Marc Yaffe (a number), Marc Parry and Chape all missed chances.

At any level this can prove costly and the deficit was reduced by one to 4-2 before the “bus stop “ set piece saw a thumping header from Sutton restore a three-goal lead.

Chape suffered a hamstring twang and limped off and Wolves's momentum seemed to go with him.

A defensive mistake saw the opposition score again but fortunately the ref blew to save the management further punishment.

Wolves boss Darryl Lee told JC Sport: "All in all a slightly better than average performance-but better opposition lie ahead-BE WARNED!"