ROUTE One Rovers are on the brink of winning back-to-back West Riding County Cups, after an extraordinary 4-1 win over Knaresborough Town in the semi-final at Myra Shay.
Wednesday night’s game was unexpected in the first place for Rovers, who had been knocked out by Golcar United in the last-eight.
But it was later discovered that Golcar had fielded two ineligible players that evening, so Route One were reinstated.
The Bradford side were then drawn at home to Knaresborough in the last-four.
And after a quiet opening half-hour at Myra Shay, the game exploded into life.
The prolific Zak Khan gave the hosts the lead after some lovely build-up play, only for big defender Will Lenehan to quickly equalise for Town off the back of a free-kick.
Rovers suffered a further blow before half-time, when forward Musa Dukuray Corrah squared up to Knaresborough centre back Sam Cook.
The Route One man took things too far and ultimately saw himself sent off for a headbutt.
It may have been soft, but you simply cannot put your head into someone’s face in modern football, so he was always in trouble once he had done that.
Down to 10 men, Route One looked to be underdogs going into the second half, but instead, goalscoring machine Khan took the game by the scruff of the neck.
He plundered an incredible second-half hat-trick, taking his tally to four goals for the night, while a shellshocked Knaresborough simply had no answer.
Rovers will face either Barnoldswick Town or Tadcaster Albion in the final, with that pair’s semi-final taking place at Barlick next month.
Golcar may no longer be in the West Riding County Cup, but they still have plenty to play for in the league.
After reaching the play-offs in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division last season, this term has been more of a struggle.
They were in major relegation danger until the last few days, but they backed up a brilliant 5-2 win at Thackley on Saturday with an even-more emphatic 4-0 home victory over Eccleshill United on Tuesday night.
Ashley Flynn, Kallum Reid and Oliver Russon all scored in the first half to ensure the game was virtually over by the break.
A goal early in the second half from Alfie Wilkinson simply put the gloss on the scoreline for Golcar.
Eccleshill are not out of trouble yet either, but they do have an eight-point gap to the relegation zone still.
Steeton are still in the hunt for the North West Counties Football League First Division North play-offs, but they suffered a damaging 3-2 defeat at Ashton Athletic on Tuesday night.
Leading twice through Josh Coe and Aidan Kirby, the Chevrons allowed Ashton to peg them back, before the hosts really twisted the knife by scoring a last-minute winner.
Brighouse Town and Blyth Town are both in the Northern Premier League East Division relegation zone, but neither are far from escaping it.
But the pair’s potentially fascinating clash up in Northumberland on Tuesday night was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
