The weather is doing its best to ruin the end of the Craven Football League season once again, with a number of matches postponed on Saturday, all scheduled night matches this week postponed and prospects for this Saturday very bleak.

Indeed the leading clubs in the Skipton Building Society Premier Division and Division One are going to be faced with three matches or more per week in order to complete the season and they say cricket starts on the 18th - there will be plenty of ducks around!

On Saturday only half the league and cup programme was completed and credit must go to all those clubs who worked hard to get their pitches playable, those who gave up home advantage to play and those who tried to borrow other pitches.

Out of the mayhem a couple of things were resolved. Cononley reached the Northern Plant Hire Challenge Trophy Final with a 4-2 victory over Hellifield in a semi-final played on a heavy pitch.

Cononley were always too strong for Hellifield who never gave up trying but could not match their opponents for speed and skill, Richard Mason scoring all four Cononley goals.

Intake will meet Rimington in the Division One League Cup Final at Rolls-Royce on Wednesday, April 22. Intake had a daunting task in their semi-final away to Silsden but they rose to the task, defending stoutly throughout and breaking away to score the only goal of the match to make it 1-0, leaving Silsden wondering how they missed the many chances they created.

In the semi-final replay between Rimington and Bradley Rimington's pitch was waterlogged so the match was played at Bradley where Rimington earned a replay last week and this time they went one better by winning 2-1 in a very close match, just shading it in the end.

The Premier Division League Cup Semi-Final between Skipton Bulldogs and Cross Hills never got off the ground. Bulldogs worked hard on Friday to get their pitch fit but were thwarted by overnight rain.

Skipton LMS's ground was borrowed but this was ruled unfit by the referee although many players from both sides disagreed with the decision.

There was a surprise in the Division Three League Cup when Cononley travelled to Grindleton needing to win to qualify for the semi-finals. Grindleton had lost their previous five matches in the competition but number six proved lucky for them as they won 3-1 and ended Cononley's hopes of a semi place, allowing Skipton LMS to get second spot. The line-up for the semis is Addingham versus Cowling and Skipton Bulldogs versus Skipton LMS.

On the league front a number of mid-week matches were played last week in the Premier Division and Division One.

In the Premier Division Skipton Bulldogs had a home 6-1 victory over Addingham and Embsay recovered their title form with a 4-0 victory over bottom club Skipton Town.

Keighley drew 2-2 with Haworth and Cononley made sure of Premier football next season with a 2-2 draw against Cross Hills.

In the Premier Division on Saturday Embsay closed the gap on Bulldogs to one point when they defeated Keighley 2-1 in a match transferred to Keighley because Embsay's ground was unfit. Keighley's hopes of the title look to have disappeared completely now although they can still have a big say in the destination of the title.

In the only other match possible in the division Addingham and Colne Cricket Club had a goalless draw.

Only one match survived in Division One where Oxenhope plunged Grassington nearer Division Two and took themselves clear of relegation by defeating them 2-1. With three matches left Grassington are going to have win them all if they are to have a chance of surviving.

In Division Two Barrowford and West Bradford were involved in a high-scoring 5-5 draw which means that Haworth need to win their remaining fixtures to obtain promotion to Division One while Hellifield must win three of their last four matches to gain promotion and all four if they are to take the title.

Clitheroe look like taking fourth place. They defeated Bronte Wanderers 1-0 and with one match left can overtake Barrowford.

The Division Four title was won by Sutton who pipped St Pauls at the post. Sutton defeated Lothersdale 5-1 to take maximum points and total 34, while St Pauls despite winning 3-2 against Settle can only amass 33 if they win their last match.

Lothersdale put up a battling performance against Sutton but due to some uncompromising tackling by their opponents they were reduced to nine men through injury and were no match for the champions.

As for St Pauls, to finish runners-up in their first season is no mean feat and credit goes to the club and players.

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