After a turbulent summer of comings and goings, Uxbridge boss Tony Choules is just happy one remaining constant is striker Matty Woods.

The former AFC Hayes front-man bagged his 50 goal for the club as the Reds kicked off their new Southern One Central season in style on Saturday, beating one of the promotion favourites, Royston Town, 3-1.

Choules said: “Matty will be massive for us again. I'm always fielding phone calls regarding him, but he just loves playing for Uxbridge. He's turned down a lot of good offers to stay because he enjoys it down here, which is excellent news for us.”

Choules is not getting carried away with Saturday's win, however, and knows tough times lie ahead.

He added: “We've got a whole new squad because of our circumstances. It's the money side of it, we've not been able to satisfy the needs of those who left and have cut our cloth accordingly.

“It's been a bit of a rebuild, but it's probably been a blessing in disguise as we've been able to discover the young talent we've got coming through.

“We're under no illusions though, it will be an extremely hard season. While we didn't expect to beat Royston, we have to keep our feet on the ground and just look to finish in a respectable position.”

Woods was in target again as Uxbridge grabbed a 2-2 draw at Godalming last night.

Hat-trick hero: Northwood's Michael Murray

In the same division, Northwood had an even more impressive opening week, hammering relegated Arlesey Town 5-0 on Saturday, before winning 1-0 at North Greenford United last night.

New signings Louis Stead, Jon Munday, Myles Stephenson and Max Holland made their debuts against Arlsesey, but it was an old face, Michael Murray, who led the way with a hat-trick for the Wood.

Boss Mark Burgess said: “To be fair, nobody expected that, but I won't read anything into it. It takes 10-12 games before you can have an idea of how your season will pan out, and the league table means nothing until March.

“We finished 10 last season, so we're just looking to improve on that. We've always been slow starters and don't get going until October, so this was a nice change.”

Meanwhile, relegated AFC Hayes got life in the Combined Counties Premier off to a losing start, going down 1-0 to both Ashford Town (Middx) and Hanworth Villa.

Over in the Spartan South Midlands League, Hillingdon Borough are the early Division One leaders after beating Baldock 5-1 and Broadfields United 2-1, but Harefield United are bottom of the Premier after losing 3-0 to Hadley and 4-1 to London Tigers.