WITH a number of Devonshire Carpets Craven League teams in action in the West Riding County FA Cup, others took their chance to steal a march on their rivals, with Bronte Wanderers and Embsay collecting maximum points against Cononley Sports and Intake respectively.

Cononley went down 5-1 at home, but would have had more to show for their efforts had they managed to find the target during the early stages when they held the upper hand.

Instead they missed a couple of good chances and eventually Bronte found their feet to claim the initiative.

Good work on the right saw Liam Blacka score the first of his hat trick when he fired in from a tight angle, Joe Blacka then powered the ball home from 10 yards and Danny Blakesley then slipped the offside trap to make it 3-0 at half-time.

While Cononley continued to work hard after the break, they were unable to get back into contention, two Liam Blacka goals coming before Paul Cavvin claimed a late consolation score for the home side.

Intake offered a similar tale of woe when they were beaten 5-2 at Shires Lane, their best work coming in the first half but Embsay still led 2-1 at the break.

Matt Reynolds put the home side ahead after two minutes following good work from Liam Salkeld and Dave Greenwood and then Lee Windle did the hard work to set up Christian Capstick for the second.

A penalty by Andrew Dibb lifted Intake morale, but Embsay regained their control when Reynolds scored the third after linking well with Windle.

A fourth from Salkeld direct from a hefty kick from goal-keeper Mark Jolly was followed by a second penalty from Dibb for Intake, but Embsay had the last word when substitute Matthew Appleton took advantage of a fumble by the goal-keeper to complete the scoring.

Embsay Reserves made it a club double with a 1-0 win at Skipton Bulldogs in Division One. The fact that both centre-halves - John Beck for Bulldogs and Nicky Williamson for Embsay - collected the man of the match awards tells the story of a game where defences dominated.

Neither side could break the deadlock in the first-half and a goal-less draw seemed the likely outcome before Embsay were awarded a penalty on the hour after a slightly high challenge.

Williamson made no mistake with the spot kick and while the visitors were then subjected to a great deal of pressure in the closing stages, they held out for the win.

Chatburn's Steven Newton must be the hottest piece of property in the Craven League at the moment. He has 15 goals in the last four matches and his four-goal haul against Barrowford was the foundation of a 6-1 win for his side.

Chatburn have 21 goals from four unbeaten matches and dominated this game from the outset.

Skipton Town maintained their challenge at the top with their third successive win, a 3-0 home defeat of Oxenhope Rec Reserves.