Sunday League: Waiters continue near-perfect league form

Waiters bounced back from their defeat to Hollins Holme a week ago, creating a few early chances which saw Lee Wood go close with a couple of headers and strike partner Reece Uttley fire just wide after racing clear.

Feathers looked tidy in possession with midfielders Joel Cleary and Liam Senior enjoying the battle with Waiters Ashton Richardson and James Waggett but they soon came unstuck when Uttley chased down a pass from Adam Helliwell and rounded Chris Silkstone in the Feathers goal and unselfishly squared for top scorer Wood to slot home.

The second half was a pretty drab affair with Waiters creating the few chances that there were with Richardson and Wood going close and then substitute David Chappell missing twoglorious opportunities late on.

Waiters boss Adam Fenton said: “We needed to bounce back after last week’s massive disappointment and I thought the lads responded well. We freshened it up and looked solid all over the pitch, which at Shroggs Park, has been a bit of a bogey ground for us before.

“Feathers are a decent side with some good footballers and I wish them well in the cup competitions. We now have four games left to play in the league and know victory in all of them will give us the title. We also have the Senior Cup to defend still so it’s a massive month in front of us.”

Rock-bottom Ryburn United still only have one win to their name this season after losing 3-2 at King Cross.

Division One leaders Siddal Place completed a double over Old Pond, but the on-form hosts gave the title aspirants a real run for their money at Lane Head.

Paul Taylor’s Hove Edge side shipped nine against Siddal in December, but were on a three-match winning streak coming into the reverse tie and started brightly.

Taylor opted to pack out the midfield with Shane and Andy Kelly supported by the

slightly more advanced Jamie Clay and the opening signs were positive.

Pond took the lead on eight minutes; Shane Kelly delivered a trade mark whipped in set piece and after Hayden Lewis’ initial shot was parried, Clay snaffled up the

rebound.

The bobbly surface was stifling Siddal’s usual passing game to some extent, but they still didn’t take long to ram home the equaliser. Jake Thompson delivered into the penalty area and Tom Mellor smashed home from close range.

The visitors enjoyed the majority of possession and Dan Barnes in the Pond goal was forced into a couple of diving saves, whilst Shane Kelly was again to the fore at the other end but put his shot narrowly wide. Carlton Balmer also rattled the Pond crossbar.

The telling moment of the match came at the half time interval when Siddal swapped Wayne Crossley into the centre forward position and he was to prove the match winner.

The league leaders took the advantage in the match for the first time as Crossley fired home from the spot, but Pond remained a threat from set pieces and on the counter.

A flowing move involving Brad Rufus, Taylor and Lewis forced Matthew Shaw-

Burns into making a fine save.

From the ensuing corner Sean Suttle laid off to Lewis who made the scores all level

once more with a driven effort.

The quality of Crossley up top proved the difference between the two sides however as he completed a late hat-trick to thwart Ponds threat of grabbing a share of the spoils.

The goal to make it 3-2 involved a fine loft over the defender’s head and side foot into the corner of the net, before a right footed curler from a free kick outside the box made the final score 4-2 to the visitors.

In the same division, North Bridge went down 3-1 on Savile Park against a Thrum

Hall side for whom Jason Clissett did most of the damage with a brace. Andrew

Hemblys was also on the scoresheet in the home victory, whilst Niall Cuttle grabbed

the goal for the Brighouse based visitors.

Halifax Hammers Reserves beat in-form Triangle 9-2 to inflict their opponents’ first defeat in five weeks.

Hammers’ Suhail Bashir crashed two efforts against the woodwork before Triangle took the lead against the run of play through Sam Dawtry, who finished well from the edge of the area.

Hammers responded straight away with a fierce shot from the edge of the box before Waj Nawaz scored their second shortly afterwards.

Triangle then equalised but two quick goals from Awais Ashfaq and Bashir before half-time put some daylight between the teams.

Straight from the restart, Zahir Hanif smashed the cross bar from 20 yards, and the rebound was tucked away by Bashir.

Foysal Ahmed then produced two mazy runs to bag a brace. Ashfaq then set-up Hammers’ eighth before rounding off the scoring himself after a five-man move.

Barum Top registered only their second win of the season with a 3-2 victory over Halifax Amateurs.

After toiling for players over the last couple of months, Matthew Bagshaw has called time on FC Casa’s involvement in the Premier Division.

The man running the club worked his socks off to keep the club going, but having

failed to raise a side in two of their last three scheduled matches has pulled the plug.

The resignation is likely to be officially accepted at the Halifax Sunday League’s next meeting on March 5.