In glorious weather the Craven Challenge Cup provided a couple of surprise results and several issues for the Executive Committee to discuss at their meeting last night (Thursday).

Last year’s beaten finalists Ingleton suffered a 4-2 home defeat to Gargrave with Barnoldswick Barons winning their local “derby” with Rolls Royce 3-0. Holders of the cup Rimington eased into the next round with a comfortable 5-0 win against a plucky Carleton side while Earby Town hit double figures in a 10-0 home win over Horton.

There were further home wins for Barnoldswick Town and Skipton Town, defeating Waddington 7-1 and Grassington United 2-0 respectively.

A thrilling finish at Hellifield saw the home side score three times in the second period of extra time to clinch a draw with Skipton LMS, while LMS Reserves won the only Norman Pratt Trophy game at Embsay by a score of 4-3.

Players’ commitment has been brought into question with many clubs reporting that they had struggled to field teams with Grassington United Reserves having to cancel their cup tie, while Settle United were also short on players only to find their opponents Pendle Athletic unable to raise a team at the last minute which caused a great deal of inconvenience. And finally Dent failed to put in an appearance at Bradley when they were blissfully playing a Westmoreland League fixture totally unaware of their Craven Cup commitment.

Gargrave produced a wonderful display at Ingleton to gain an unexpected win against a North Craven side who are renowned cup fighters.

Chris Bibby took advantage of some slack defending to give the home side an early lead. The visitors remained composed and played some good football with the midfield of Oliver Hurst and Sam Watson proving strong throughout the game. Gargrave were soon level when Christian Moon produced a good finish following good approach play. The same player put his side into the lead with a goal from an acute angle.

As expected Ingleton came out in the second half pressuring the visitors and levelling matters through the hard-working Paul Bruce.

However Gargrave weathered the storm and always looked dangerous on the break and it came as no surprise when Joel Timmins outran the home defence to put Gargrave back in front. Their afternoon was completed when sub Paul Wilkin sealed the win with a goal in the final minutes.

Ingleton gave a sub-standard display by their own high standards but they could not take anything away from the winners and the game was complete with match official 66-year-old Raymond Akrigg of Hornby giving a near faultless display.

Grassington United were missing several regulars as were their opponents Skipton Town which made for a poor game with Town just about deserving a 2-0 win.

Barnoldswick Town and Waddington were level at half-time one goal each, goalkeeper Wayne Leach having saved a Town penalty and Peter Fletcher scoring an equaliser. In the second half Town scored early and a glut of goals in the final quarter gave Town a comfortable 7-1 win.

Barnoldswick Barons admitted that they were under a lot of pressure from Rolls Royce but keeper Chris Wood was in outstanding form and they took their chances when Oliver Scott completed a first half hat-trick.

The second half was constant Rolls pressure but thanks to lady luck and last-ditch tackling the Barons held on to seal an excellent win.

Another West Craven team through were Earby Town who demolished visitors Horton with ten goals. Star of the show was David Flounders with five goals followed by Gary Hooper with four and a own goal making the tally. Horton held the hosts for the first 20 minutes but trailed 3-0 at the break and a early goal in the second half saw the home team dominate and score goals at will.

Holders Rimington also had a comfortable home win over a Carleton side who knew it was not an easy tie but gave away goals from basic mistakes which were punished by the East Lancs outfit.

Four goals down at the break Carleton recovered some pride with a better second half display when they only conceded one more goal. Rimington applauded Carleton’s work rate and spirit.

The match of the day was at Hellifield when in a pulsating finish the home team scored three times in the second half of extra time to force a replay.

Skipton LMS had taken the lead through Luke Krelle only for Carl Stanford to level matters with a good finish from a excellent cross from Ryan Preston. Ian Craven restored the LMS lead with Stanford again scoring to leave the teams level at full-time.

Galloway and Freakes had made some good saves as the match went into extra time and LMS raced into a three-goal lead with a further Krelle goal and goals from Iain Tyrer and Andrew Smithson. Then came the drama in the second period of extra time when Preston scored, Jamie Wright scored the best goal with a 25-yard drive and Stanford gave Hellifield a deserved equaliser with his third goal. LMS were relieved to hear the final whistle of referee Willie Naylor who had a brilliant game.

In the only Norman Pratt Trophy game a end to end at Embsay saw Skipton LMS snatch a win by 4-3. Both sides were committed to attacking with Embsay up the slope they scored through Mariusz Miutk. But just before the break Peter Kulik brought the teams level.

Embsay started the second half stronger and were soon in the lead when Stephen Speak scored and only good defending stopped Embsay from increasing the lead. However LMS had a penalty converted by Richard Osadzenko before Miutk scored his second. Ricky Brewin then levelled the scores before Josh Arnold’s strike won the game for the LMS.