Sunday League: Old Post Office will need first-class display at Feathers

It’s cup weekend across the Calder Valley and there are plenty of opportunities for giant killings. 

Feathers are third in the Premier Division, with their only defeat coming in a hard-fought contest against leaders Cock & Bottle.Corey Henderson and Joel Clearly are nicely backing up the goals of top scorer Thomas Hosker, especially with the latter missing the last couple of games. The Division Two visitors will be looking for a reaction as they try and bounce back from their disappointing result last weekend, they’ll need David Oakes and Jay Thomas to be firing on all cylinders if they’re to cause an upset.

Cock & Bottle will go head-to-head with FC Hounds for the first time, but it will be in the cup before the league. The hosts will be hoping to take their excellent start to the campaign into the cup as well, they’ve got eight wins from their opening eight fixtures in all competitions. Jordan Coduri has already reached double figures for the season in the league, along with a hat-trick in their previous cup encounter against FC Panda Reserves.

FC Hounds have found it tough going this season so far and the stats back it up. Max Morley is their top scorer with three goals from three games, but it will be key how they react to the fire power of the hosts.

FC Panda visit Cock Of The North looking to avoid another cup defeat. They were beaten in the Sunday Cup by fellow divisional rivals Linthwaite but reacted well last weekend to beat FC Hounds comprehensively.

As for Cock Of The North, they were trashed last time out and they’ll be hoping for a big response and to cause an upset rather than another cup loss.

Ryburn Valley could find it tough going against Linthwaite as another Division One side goes in hunt of an upset. The Premier Division side were very impressive last time out in the Sunday Cup, and only once has anyone found a way to beat them so far this season.

Park and Woodhouse will renew rivalries again this weekend after their league encounter last Sunday ended 2-2.

Elsewhere, Lee Mount battle it out with Wellington Westgate in a mouth-watering encounter.Wire Works travel to struggling Thrum Hall and finally Hollins Holme of the Premier Division face a bottom division side in Triangle.

Ravenswharfe will aim to get to the Brook Butler semi-finals by beating New Inn this Sunday. The other quarter-final beaten Clifton Rangers and Mirfield Town has been postponed until December. This is due to Clifton Rangers hoping to final get their game on against Overthorpe in the WRCFA Sunday Cup.

The battle at the top of Division Two continues, Spen FC travel to Sands Lane with high expectations of another win. The two sides met on the opening weekend with the league leaders winning by 5-2. A hat-trick from James Heeley was enough to do the damage that day, but the hosts will be hoping for another brace from Dominic Howarth in this one.

Old Pond face Battyeford for the first time this season. They’ll be hoping for a better performance than last weekend, they made real hard work of it against Clifton Rangers Athletic.

They responded well to going behind and dug in for the win to keep the pressure on the leaders, even if some of the goals were a little fortunate. Hayden Lewis, Paul Taylor and Lewis Hobson all bagged a brace. Halifax Rangers will hope to keep their recent run of results going as they head to Clifton Rangers Reserves. Iain King bagged a hat-trick for them in the reverse fixture, but hat-tricks from Luke Briggs and Adam Kenyon were enough to see the hosts take the points that weekend. A win for the visitors this time would see them go level with the opposition. Clifton Rangers Reserves can’t afford any slip ups right now, especially with the pressure from those above.

Elsewhere, Clifton Rangers Athletic will face Barum Top on Sunday. The visitors will want to close the gap to the top and still try push on for promotion, whereas the hosts will want to finally get that first win on the board. They’ve faced two of the top three sides home and away already, so this is when they should now be looking to pick up some results.

Results – Premier Division: FC Panda 5-2 FC Hounds. Division One: Park FC 2-2 Woodhouse
Ravenswharfe 5-3 Snowdon, Thrum Hall 4-6 FC Panda Reserves, Wire Works 3-5 Lee Mount. 
Division Two: Clifton Rangers Athletic 3-6 Old Pond, Halifax Rangers 5-2 Barum Top, Old Post Office 1-3 Triangle.

Fixtures – Eddie Hebblethwaite Cup: Cock & Bottle v FC Hounds, Cock Of The North v FC Panda, Feathers v Old Post Office, Hollins Holme v Triangle, Lee Mount v Wellington Westgate, Park FC v Woodhouse, Ryburn Valley v Linthwaite, Thrum Hall v Wire Works. Brook Butler Cup: Ravenswharfe v New Inn. WRCFA Sunday Cup: Overthorpe v Clifton Rangers. Division Two: Clifton Rangers Athletic v Barum Top, Clifton Rangers Reserves v Halifax Rangers, Old Pond v Battyeford, Sands Lane v Spen FC.