Rawdon make the last 16 of County Cup

Playing away from home Rawdon rattled in four goals without reply to set up a fifth round home tie against the trophy holders Walkers Arms.

They led 2-0 at the break after playing well in the first-half but as has become Rawdon's habit they only did as much as they needed to in the second-half.

Their goals came from a brace from Richard Machell and solo strikes from Danny Forrest and Lee Poole The fifth round game against Golcar- based Walkers Arms will be played at Micklefield Park, Rawdon, on Sunday, January 7.

In the first round of the competition Rawdon had a 3-0 home win over Whetley Lane. They then travelled to East Leeds Celtic in the second round and hammered them 10-0.

In the third round they defeated fellow Wharfedale Triangle League side Horsforth Rangers 4-2 away from home before making the fourth round trip to Thorn Tree last Sunday.

Knaresborough Celtic 2Addingham 3

Following their first league defeat of the season the previous week against much fancied Albert, Addingham travelled to the division's current hot property Knaresborough Celtic.

Whilst they may languish in fourth spot, a place above Addingham, with only two league defeats this season and games in hand, Celtic are deservedly fancying their chances of promotion.

In their last outing they hammered seven past last season's champions Bramham, and unbeaten at home they posed a stern test. The severity of that test was increased when the yuletide holidays robbed Addingham of keeper Sam Lee, Tom and Matt Ross-Jones, Adam Tunney, and Dan Jordan. This was coupled with the loss through injury of Tom Smith and Ben Noble and Addingham were stretched to say the least.

Not for the first time this season it was the much improved Addingham Reserves who came to the fore. The results this season have not always gone their way but the quality of the players, the new manager and the improvement in morale has given the Reserves a new found vigour, and in truth, previous seasons the ability of many reserve team players had been short of the standard to compete at the higher level. That is no longer the case.

Players like Jay Todd, Chris Towers, Phil Bolton, Daz Munday and Rob Powell have all shown that on the day they can make the step up with accomplished ease.

The latter two were both starters in a side that had five changes from the previous week. Celtic too were far from at their strongest and with no substitutes to call upon they looked as stretched as Addingham.

Once under way on the large but boggy surface it was apparent that Celtic were playing with a weakened side. With Si Collins and Tom Rennolds running the central midfield Addingham were too much for Celtic to handle.

The full story of this game would take a novel to tell. Addingham created 20 superb chances and on any other day would and should have won 10-0 but the season of goodwill was taken to comedic proportions as time after time after time they spurned gilt edged opportunities.

Celtic with no subs went down to ten men and fought back twice only for Addingham to score a deserved winner with five minutes left to play when Todd, added to goals from Si Collins and Steve Perkins.

Quite how the game ended 3-2 is a mystery. Celtic had two goalbound efforts all day and scored twice whilst Addingham missed open goals, sat on the ball, headed over from a yard out, failed to tap in from two feet, blazed over when clean through and generally gave a lesson in how not to score.

The result may well prove vital as the division is tight and points against the stronger sides have generally been shared out equally. The number of efforts Addingham managed to create was in itself testament to the flair and attacking style with which they play their football but too many spurned chances is never good for any team or the manager's heart condition either.

Woodhouse 0 Otley Town 2

Otley Town have shown some welcome consistency in their recent league form, winning three out of the last four games.

Included in this mini-run was an impressive win against second placed Kippax, and so, on paper at least, the form guide suggested a comfortable away win against struggling Woodhouse Hill.

However, on a pitch that resembled a bog and against a team which refused to capitulate, Town were made to work hard for the points and they only became truly comfortable in the last quarter when a second goal had been added.

Not surprisingly, Otley were unchanged for this game starting with their usual 4-4-2 formation and the instruction from team management was to get out of the blocks early and try to take advantage of the playing surface before its inevitable deterioration.

This was pretty much what happened with Town dominating possession and taking the game to Woodhouse. However, the home defence performed doggedly chasing, harrying and blocking most of Town's goalbound efforts and in the end it took a glorious piece of skill to break them.

It came courtesy of a superb 35 yard free-kick from acting skipper Tom Chadwick which gave the home keeper no chance. Hats off to the Otley winger for this would have been a fine goal under any conditions never mind from the quagmire pitch which was now being supplemented by torrential rain.

There were no further scoring opportunities prior to half-time, the heavy conditions affecting both teams, but Otley could be satisfied with their work in the first-half though a little disappointed with just the single goal to show for their efforts.

Recently, the Otley players have shown a vast improvement in understanding how the game should be played under certain conditions and this has been one of the main factors leading to the improved results.

The half-time instruction was to play to the pitch conditions ie. keep the game tight, play the percentages and with obvious superior fitness the goals would eventually come.

Town began as they had left off and ten minutes into the second period were rewarded when Danny Royston was crudely hauled down in the box. Unfortunately his judgement for the spot-kick was way off as he tried to place his shot when a pile driver was the order of the day.

His effort barely reached the home keeper. He was however not the only one guilty of missed chances. Sam Dexter should have scored in chipping over when well placed and Chadwick of all people failed with two one-on-one's with the keeper.

With 25 minutes remaining manager Roger Eli decided to freshen things up and brought on Chris Alderson for the tiring Royston who had done a sterling job. Almost immediately his presence and fresh legs began to make an impact and the ultimate pay-off came as he started and finished a splendid four man move with a deft near post strike. Leading 2-0 Town were now home if not dry in the appalling conditions and saw out the game without anxiety.

This was a team effort and all the players should be commended on their efforts but special praise should go to keeper Luke Holroyd. Not that he had that much to do in terms of saves but his kicking from both ground and from hand was superb from start to finish and contributed greatly to the territorial advantage maintained throughout.

Town are without a game this coming Saturday due to their opponent's County Cup commitments. They return to action on January 13 at Ilkley (2pm kick-off).