Sunday League: Hammers march on into cup semi-finals

Terriq PervezTerriq Pervez
Terriq Pervez
Halifax Hammers reached the semi-finals of the Eddie Hebblethwaite Sunday Cup for the second year running by beating Bradshaw 5-3 - but were made to work hard for it.

Terriq Pervez and Mohammed Ozair both went close, while Bradshaw’s Jordan Coduri hit the bar.

Just before the half-hour mark, Pervez converted from Ozair’s excellent cross and then Khurram Shazad doubled their lead with a superb left-foot shot shortly before half-time.

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But Bradshaw pulled one back just before the interval when Coduri found the unmarked Ian King to find the net from close range.

Pervez missed a good chance to put Hammers 3-1 up, which looked even worse when Bradshaw equalised through Leon Hurles-Brook’s fine effort.

Hammers regained the lead when Irfan Afzal scored from close range, but Bradshaw refused to lie down, and Coduri produced an audacious long-range effort from the centre circle straight from the restart with Hammers still celebrating.

Bradshaw had their tails up now and were causing Hammers all sorts of problems. Coduri raced clear on goal after a defensive mistake by Hammers, but his shot was well saved by Yasar Mohammed.

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Coduri again spurned a good chance when he hit the side-netting when through on goal, and was made to rue those misses when Hammers eventually won through as substitute Lamin Gitteh’s sublime cross was smashed home by Sameer Ahmed.

The result was wrapped up when a run from deep by Shazad was finished off by Pervez’s first time volley from an acute angle.

Hollins Holme upset Premier Division leaders Waiters Arms with a shoot-out win at Trinity Academy which their boss Steve Parker described as “absolutely awesome.”

Waiters had won the league meeting on the same artificial pitch by 7-2 a fortnight earlier but Parker had predicted after that game that the rematch would be no formality for Adam Fenton’s side.

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He was proved right as the Calder Valley side won 3-1 on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

Waiters took the lead after 20 minutes but Hollins were on terms 10 minutes later when Will Chadwick crossed for brother James to score with a glancing header.

The visitors took the lead shortly after from an Andy Butterworth free-kick, George Bamford scoring with a bullet header.

Waiters mounted a second half onslaught but Hollins dug in determinedly and held firm until 10 minutes form time when Jake Allott conceded a penalty, winning the ball but playing an opponent first.

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Rob Laycock saved the spot kick but Waiters scored from the rebound.

Parker said he had been confident Hollins would win on penalties.

Billy Grogan missed Waiters’ first spot kick and two of his teammates were also off target. Greg Spink, Bamford and Joe Gibson were on target for Hollins to end the shoot-out after just seven attempts.

In the Premier Division, Ryburn Valley beat Ryburn United 3-2.

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Siddal Place returned to the top of Division One with an emphatic 8-1 win away at Halifax Rangers, making it 10 league wins on the spin.

Early domination paid dividends as Wayne Crossley struck early to give the visitors the perfect start.

This was quickly followed by a second goal, after a great advantage was played by referee Phil Higgins to allow Jake Thompson to run clear and square it across for an easy tap in for Tom Mellor.

Rangers showed great spirit and got back into the game after Liam Senior gave away a penalty, for James Forsyth to score.

Crossley scored his second of the game before half-time.

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The second half began much the same as the first with Jake Thompson beating the Rangers’ offside trap and rounding the goalkeeper to make it 4-1.

Thompson made it 5-1 after good work from Darryl Camp on the left.

Siddal skipper Matthew Burns was instrumental throughout and claimed the assist of the day, threading an eye of the needle through ball to Crossley who claimed his hat-trick.

Thompson followed suit to tale his tally for the season to 21 goals before Josh Prestage completed the rout.

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A brace from Sohail Bashir helped Halifax Hammers Reserves beat North Bridge 4-1.

Bashir gave Hammers a half-time lead, but that was cancelled out when North Bridge levelled.

But Hammers moved out of sight when another from Bashir and one each from Foysal Ahmed and captain Wajid Nawaz, who fired into the top corner from 25 yards.

The other game in Division One saw Triangle beat Thrum Hall 2-1.

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