HOTSHOT Chris Clarkson found the net an amazing TWELVE times in one match to start the season with a bang for his club Clayton Villa, writes NORMAN LAWTON.

But 13-year-old Chris, a pupil at Norden High School, Rishton, is no stranger to goalscoring . . . he notched six times on his debut for Villa in the 1997-98 season.

Chris's round dozen - four in the first half and eight in the second - included just one header and came against shell-shocked Wilpshire Wanderers who were soundly beaten 18-0 in the Hyndburn and District Boys' League Under-14s section.

Villa manager Scott Kenyon, who is in his last season after running the Villa side for four years, said: "Chris wasn't in my original team as he was already committed to another club when we started up.

"But this is his third season now, and there's always a real buzz when his team-mates give him the ball. You just know he is going to do something.

"As the goals rolled in against Wilpshire, his team-mates then started to pick out Chris at every opportunity and they really deserve much credit for helping Chris to this remarkable achievement."

Chris has scored 14 goals so far this season after just two league matches, including two in a 4-3 win over Clitheroe Wolves at the weekend. Last season, he got 23 and the year before 24, including half-a-dozen when he played his first game in another 18-0 success for Villa against Newchurch Colts.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.