In the Furness and District Football Association second round, two of the local teams met, with one of them bound for the semi-final. Cartmel was very much the better all round side and on the day deserved to beat near neighbours Swarthmoor Social Club. Cartmel started much the better side playing some excellent football on the way to scoring three times through Joel Drinkall (2) and Matthew Burrows. Swarthmoor, a division below Cartmel, tried its best and deserved more than the one goal scored by Callum Allardyce.

In the Black Dragon Senior Challenge Cup the long awaited second round tie was finally played between Heysham from Division Three and Premier Division side Kirkby Lonsdale. Heysham started the game very well and had the Kirkby defence quite often stretched. With a bit of luck Heysham could have taken the lead as they went close on numerous occasions. Kirkby rode out the early onslaught and hit back just before half-time when Scott Tremble scored. The second half again saw Heysham doing most of the attacking and going close, but the elusive equaliser did not come. Kirkby doubled its lead when they rode out another attack and counter attacked, resulting in Tremble scoring his second and his side's second to win the game. In the third round Kirkby Lonsdale will be at home to near rivals Ingleton.

In the third round the match of the day was between Galgate and Tic Dynamos. Galgate played its best football of the season so far, often running the Dynamos' defence ragged. Galgate deservedly went into a 2-0 lead with goals by Richard Cragg and Craig Cottam. Galgate appeared to be holding the Dynamos' side with ease and looked to be coasting into the next round. But with just 10 minutes remaining the Galgate defence lost its concentration for a few seconds and it cost them when Robert Goldsborough scored from close in. Dynamos, given hope by this goal, threw everyone forward looking for the equaliser, and with time fast running out Steven Wiggins forced an equaliser to take the game into extra time. Extra time came and went without further goals so the tie had to be decided on penalties. The penalty shootout was as close as the game with just one penalty being missed by a Galgate player to send Dynamos into the fourth round for the first time in 16 years where they will be away to Cartmel and District.

Division Three side Moghuls, fielding a young experimental side against Premier Division side Bowerham, was given a lesson in football when they got beat easily by 6-0. Joe Bouskill, Matthew Buczynski with four goals and Andy Strachan sending Bowerham into a home tie in the quarter-final.

In the Sam Price Memorial Cup second round, Highgrove just about deserved its win over a Storeys side that lacked a goal scorer. Storeys created enough chances to have won the game but it was Highgrove that turned its chances into goals, with Jamie Lothian scoring both to send his team into the semi-final where they will be away to the winners of Tic Dynamos, Kirkby Lonsdale or Ingleton.

Marsh United suffered a setback when they were beaten by a resurgent Morecambe Royals side that had suffered a 5-1 defeat to Marsh a few weeks previous. Marsh started off brightly enough and created plenty of early chances but could not find the back of the net. Gradually the Marsh side's performance started to deteriorate allowing the Royals to get back into the game. A goal by Nick Edmonds was enough for the Royals to hold off the Marsh side and move into the semi-final where they will be at home to Carnforth Rangers.

In the Squires Sports Bar/Fisher/Howson Remembrance Cup first round:
The often cancelled tie between Burton Thistle Reserves and Arnside Reserves was finally played resulting in an easy 6-0 win for Arnside Reserves. In an earlier league game both sides scored three times in a drawn 3-3 game. This cup match was as one sided as the score line suggests after player/manager Edward Harte, James Bland (2), James Barr (2) and Chris Howsley had scored almost at will. In the second round Arnside will be at home to Caton United Reserves.

Division Two side Carnforth Rangers Reserves outplayed Division Four side Freehold Reserves from start to finish, winning easily by 8-1 with goals by Dave Chippendale, James Rafferty, an own goal scored by Adrian Wilson, Antony Crabtree, Peter Michalek (2) and Glenn Russell (2). Kyle Davies scored a great goal in reply for Freehold. In the second round Carnforth will be at home to the holders Storeys Reserves.

Division Two side Caton United Reserves entertained bottom of Division Three side Bolton-le-Sands Reserves. Caton started much the better team as expected but could not find a way through a determined Bolton-le-Sands defence. Caton made the breakthrough after just 20 minutes. A long hopeful ball out to the left wing was turned inside by Jeremy Richards and missed by a defender, the ball fell to Nick Edmonds whose first time shot easily beat the keeper. Caton went into a 2-0 lead within two minutes when Paul Stokes broke up a Bolton-le-Sands attack, he fed the ball to Russell Stevenson who in turn gave the ball to James Postlethwaite and his deft touch beat two defenders and found Edmonds who in turn smashed it past the keeper. The second half was only two minutes old when Bolton-le-Sands got a life line when the best player on the field Scott Shields was first to the ball to score a good well taken goal. Bolton-le-Sands now sensed they could win this game and had Caton hanging on at times. Caton hardly got out of its own half for the first 20 minutes of the half. It was easy to see why Bolton-le-Sands had only scored five goals so far this season as they created many chances but their finishing was woefully weak, shooting high and wide with the goal at their mercy. Caton was certainly second best during this time. In the 78th minute, on a rare attack, Caton won a corner, Andy Kehoe's well placed corner found Russell Stevenson on the edge of the area and his powerful header found the top right hand corner giving the keeper no chance and his side a more comfortable 3-1 lead. Within 60 seconds the goal of the game was scored by Paul Stokes who found the top right hand corner with a 30 yard block buster to make it 4-1. It was not long before Caton scored its fifth goal, Postlethwaite broke up another Bolton-le-Sands attack and his first time pass found Jeremy Richards who beat two defenders before finding the back of the net with a fine shot to make it 5-1. On another day it could have been Bolton-le-Sands who won the game as they had more of the possession and more chances than Caton. In the second round Caton will now travel to Division Four side Arnside Reserves and must play better if they are to progress to the next round.

In another often cancelled game, Millhead overcame a good Trimpell Reserves in a high scoring game, winning by 6-4. The game was end-to-end with both sides playing good attacking football with goals being scored at regular intervals with Sean Pennington scoring a good hat-trick, James Emmott, Craig Cottom scored for Millhead, but the goal of the game was scored for Millhead by the Trimpell player/manager Steve Jordan whose powerful header from a corner rocketed past his own keeper. In reply Trimpell scorer was Dave Graham with all four. In the second round Millhead will be at home to Boys Club Reserves.

In the second round College Afc Reserves just came out on top after a thrilling game against Gregson Reserves with the result in doubt right up to the final whistle. Tom Hamilton and a brace including the winner from Matthew Vernon scored for College, Michael Leadson and Lee Hall scored for Gregson. In the third round College will be away to the winners of the Bentham Reserves and Ingleton Reserves game.

In the Premier Division a battle between two candidates Bentham and Halton Rangers for relegation ended all square. Halton went all out from the first whistle and went into a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes. James Garside scored Halton's first goal, the second in the fifth minute was an own goal scored by Tim Whieldon. As the ball went into the area from a corner the ball hit Whieldon on his knee and went into the net as he tried to clear it. The score stayed the same until half-time. Bentham started the second half much better but were lucky to be still in the game as Halton missed loads of chances to have put the result beyond doubt in the first half. James Earnshaw, whenever he got the ball, always caused the Halton defence problems with his pace. It was Earnshaw that gave his side hope of salvaging something from the game when he reduced the arrears to 2-1. Then with the game deep into injury/stoppage time Earnshaw snatched the all important equaliser for Bentham. This leaves Halton deep in trouble at the bottom five points from safety.

Slyne-with-Hest had a comfortable 3-0 win over Ingleton who have problems in getting points away from home this season. Ingleton competed well in the first half but still trailed at half-time by 1-0 after Lee Davies had scored. The second half saw the Slyne side raise its game to score two more goals by James Galley and Sam Sandham to run out deserved 3-0 winners.

In the Division One Holdens Solictors/Gibson Cup second round a terrific game of football was played at Ingleton when they met Highgrove Reserves, each side having won one league game each this season. There were many twists and turns to the game. Alex Hartley gave Ingleton the lead only for Highgrove to hit back to take a 2-1 lead with goals by Daniel Lofthouse and Daniel Gill. Ingleton fought back to equalise with a goal from young Ben O'Hagan to send the tie into extra time. With just three minutes remaining and the game turned in Highgrove's favour when Lofthouse scored a good well taken goal to make it 3-2. In the last minute of extra time and in the last attack and almost the last kick of the game a terrific 30 yard strike by Hartley saved the game for Ingleton, leaving the keeper with no chance of saving it. This brought the penalty shootout with Ingleton triumphing by 4-3. They will be at home to Caton in the semi-final.

In the League Bolton-le-Sands regained the top spot in the division after winning a hard fought game against third placed Millhead. Both sides wanted maximum points to strengthen their promotion prospects. Either side could have won but at the end it was the more attack minded Bolton-le-Sands that prevailed with goals scored by Ben Shields, veteran Daniel Shepherd, Robert Powell and a super strike from Mark Smith. In reply Millhead scorers were Bradley Shuttleworth and leading scorer Matthew Palmer.

Boys Club took advantage of Marsh United Reserves' poor form by winning quite easily by 3-0 with Aaron Pearce, Daryl McHugh and Joe Proud scoring the goals. Boys Club played most of the football and had the Marsh side hanging on at times.

Overton and Middleton won three badly need points when they came out on top against a College side that is starting to get dragged into the relegation fight. Overton deservedly won the game with goals by Peter Marin, Adam Nutt and Oliver Wellock. Richard Howard scored for College. The game was excellently refereed by the College AFc manager.

The biggest shock of the day was the win by Morecambe Royals Reserves who are anchored at the bottom of the division, not having won a league game so far this season until they beat promotion seeking Freehold by 2-1. The first meeting between these two saw Freehold thump the Royals by 9-0. The return match was entirely different with the Royals showing more fighting spirit than of late. Their first goal was scored with his head by veteran Gary O'Keeffe from a flick-on from a corner after 20 minutes. Freehold were stung by this and attacked strongly and but for the brilliance of keeper Tony Milne would have equalised and taken the lead, he made two fantastic saves to deny Freehold before half-time. The Royals also had two goals disallowed for infringements. The second half saw an improvement in the Freehold side as they went looking for goals against the bottom side and had the Royals hanging on. Phil Oliver gave Freehold a lifeline when he equalised and deservedly so, but the killer punch for the Royals came when the Freehold keeper threw the ball out only for it to be intercepted by Hakan Oktem who went on to score what turned out to be the winning goal.

In Division Two the Accrington Trophy Centre/Whiteside Cup second round was a close affair between two good teams in Arnside and Furness Rovers. Arnside, for a change, are having good runs in this season's cup competitions and are still in all three they have entered. Arnside led 1-0 at half-time with a goal by Matthew Smith. The second half saw the tie favour Furness when they went into a 2-1 lead with a goal by Will Lowe and a penalty converted by Joe Leslie. The game was end-to-end throughout the game, the pace never slackened and a nice move saw Arnside equalise when Smith scored his second. Arnside piled on the pressure looking for another goal and the possible winner. This eventually came when Furness was penalised for hand ball inside the area and the ball dispatched by veteran Steve Pearson who held his nerve to give Arnside the winning lead. In the semi-final Arnside will be away to Trimpell a side they beat last week in the Senior Cup.

In the League the top two, Allithwaite Rangers and Trimpell, battled out a brilliant 1-1 draw, neither side deserved to lose. The game as expected from the top two was always close, Oliver Crowe gave Allithwaite the lead and Trimpell was saved by veteran David Riley.

Bentham Reserves travelled to play Kirkby Lonsdale Reserves and started with only nine players. Undeterred the Bentham side took the game to Kirkby but found themselves trailing to a Scott Kirk goal. Bentham found their second wind and again took the game to Kirkby and equalised with a goal by Oliver Harrison. Bentham then went into an unexpected 2-1 lead when Darren Thompson scored what they thought would be the winner. But with time running out Kirkby mounted another attack which ended when Alex Greenbank scored an own goal to give Kirkby the draw.

Slyne-with-Hest was surprisingly beaten by lowly Grange who played well above its position. Ryan McKenny, Matthew Doan, David Simpson and Karl Davidson scored the goals.


In another close game, with both sides Torrisholme and Westgate Wanderers hoping for maximum points, only one goal was scored when Andy Houghton put the ball in the net for Torrisholme to keep them in third place.

In Division Three the re-arranged game between AFc Moorlands and Boys Club Reserves was going Boys Club way as they led 2-1 after Mark Shimmer had scored for AFc Moorlands and Stuart Leeming and John Norman had scored for Boys Club. AFc Moorlands introduced its powerful substitute Dave Brown who started to run the game for his side, his passing was excellent, as he set up the goal scored by Steve Kitchen to equalise, he then set up Neil Fitzsimmons up for him to score his side's third goal. Boys Club scored a deserved third when James Short scored a good goal.

Morecambe Gold played most of their football in the first half when their legs were still fresh. Against Burton Thistle they went into a 2-0 lead with goals by Dean Kennedy and a 30 yard pile driver from John Eccles, Chris Plevey hit back and equalised with a brace for Burton. The veteran gold side still had enough in their legs to go to the Burton side and score a third goal with Kennedy scoring his second before half-time. The second half was one way traffic as Burton camped in the Gold half but just could make the break through as the experienced Gold side hung on for another win to move them back to third spot.

Galgate Reserves, on the edge of a promotion place, opened up a 2-0 lead with goals by Liam Roskill and Chris Gardner and looked capable of scoring more. Villa Royale, who have not had it easy the last few games, showed plenty of players willing to fight back which they did to deservedly draw level when Sean Ferguson scored both goals for his side.

In Division Four a more experienced Carnforth Rangers A side had too much fire power for Heysham Reserves as they won comfortably by 3-0 with Adam Iley and a brace by young Jake Beaton scoring the goals. This win moves them off the foot of the table for the first time this season.

Pilling, the only unbeaten team in the whole league won again, thanks to a brilliant hat-trick from Mark Garside. Pilling had to work hard for its win as the young Ingleton side never gave up chasing and harassing a good Pilling side whose aim is promotion in its first season