Cononley take over at the top

3:14pm Thursday 10th January 2008

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After the Christmas and New Year break the majority of Craven's footballers had a further enforced rest day without kicking a ball when the week's wintry weather coupled with a Friday evening deluge put paid to all but eight fixtures in the Devonshire Carpets Craven Football League.

The outlook for this week's programme also looks bleak and with the mounting backlog of fixtures the season could have a glut of evening fixtures come the lighter evenings in March and April.

In the Premier Division Cononley Sports regained top spot with a 3-0 win at neighbours Bradley while Grassington United gained a creditable 3-3 at Clitheroe Lions on the Roefield where surprisingly three of the league fixtures were played when these pitches are notorious for easily being waterlogged.

Hellifield Sports also won 2-1 at WFC Clitheroe. The home team could not deal with the pace and skill of Danny Mellor and with Carl Stanford intelligently leading the forward line Hellifield were full value for the win in which every member of the team contributed. Goals from Mellor and Stanford gave them a two goal lead and although the home team pulled a goal back Hellifield defended stoutly to gain an outstanding win and keep them in fourth place.

In Division One second placed Pendle Athletic lost 2-1 at home to Padiham and therefore the chance to gain ground on the leaders Grindleton.

In Division Two Chatburn's narrow 1-0 win over Pendle Renegades took them back to the joint top of the table. Grassington United Reserves lost 4-0 at home to Pendle Forest.

Skipton Town Reserves and Embsay Reserves drew 1-1 endeavouring to play good football on a pitch, which cut up as the game progressed. Both defences were on top form however Carl Osadzenko's good header from a corner gave Town the lead before half-time. Town felt that they had created the better chances but as the game entered the latter stages Embsay came on strong and levelled the scores. They continued to exert pressure on the Town goal without having the killer punch leaving a draw a fair result.

Young referee Tom Davey handled the game in a strong, firm and fair manner.

The remaining game played in Division Three was a 3-3 draw between Waddington Reserves and Oakworth Reserves.