ONCE again footballers across Craven woke to an excellent day for their football with pitches much drier than in recent weeks.

The only disappointment was the continuing shortage of referees, not helped this week by three late backwords on Saturday morning, which caused important matches to go unstaffed.

Two sides who drew at home in the first round of the Division Two League Cup made amends in the replays. Barrowford United travelled to Cowling Reserves and had a 5-0 winning margin, whilst Barnoldswick United FC visited Silsden Athletic, set up a two nil lead, squandered it to be level with 10 minutes to go but finally clinched a place in the next round with a late winner.

Two top matches in the Silentnight Premier Division saw Embsay and Skipton Bulldogs FC end up all square at two each.

In the local derby at Marley stadium between Keighley FC and Oxenhope Recreation it was the visitors who took the points with a 1-0 victory. Leaders Crosshills stretched their lead to eight points with a 4-0 win over Rimington.

In Division One Clitheroe United returned to winning form with a five one defeat of Bradley. Grindelton lost at home to Cowling two one, whilst St Paul's kept their promotion hopes alive with a home victory over Sutton.

Division Two leaders Bronte Wanderers had a 6-1 victory over Grindelton Reserves to extend their lead to three points.

Third placed Embsay Reserves lost 3-0 at Silsden and allowed Lothersdale to leapfrog them after Dale reached double figures at Skipton LMS Reserves.

Ilkley Juniors Youth took over top spot in Division Three with a 5-1 victory over former leaders Colne Cricket Club Reserves.

Waddington suffered their first league defeat of the season, going down at home to Grassington United Reserves, Grassington now moving into third place above Waddington. Cononley Sports Reserves continue to improve, they recorded another victory, this time defeating Carleton Reserves 2-0.

Hopefully, weather permitting, strides will be made to get the cup competitions back on course, with matches taking place in the Northern Plant Hire Challenge Cup quarter finals, Bronte Wanderers v holders Silsden being one notable tie, Oxenhope and Skipton LMS another.

Some exciting matches, let us hope the weather stays kind, referees recover from the 'flu bug and there are no late backwords on Saturday morning.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.