Last year Holmfirth Town won the Sheffield & Hallamshire Junior County Cup and they are still on course for a repeat.

Last week, along with six other District League teams, they played in the second round and five from our area are through. The only two losers were Hade Edge 3-2 at Scawthorpe Scorpions and Holmfirth’s Reserves, who lost 4-3 to Shaw Lane Aquaforce.

Holmfirth Town beat Durkar 3-2 but the score against the Wakefield League side does not reflect Holmfirth’s superiority.

The Division II side even sacrificed home advantage as their field was deemed unfit. They dominated the first half but the sides turned round still level at 0-0, but 10 minutes into the second period, Louis Langfield gave the Town the lead.

Ten minutes later, a superb cross from Kyle Edwards, starting his first game for the team, found Langfield five yards from goal and he headed home to make it 2-0.

Durkar pulled one back to give them some hope but the Town were awarded a penalty in the 80th minute and Langfield completed his hat trick. Durkar gained further consolation late in the game to add some respectability to the score but the Town never felt in any danger.

The result was gained without their regular keeper and ex-Town full back Rob Edwards (Kyle’s dad) has been the stand-in keeper lately – he has not been letting the team down. Full-back Reece Hyland was also a candidate for man of the match.

Town’s Reserves went down 4-3 to Shaw Lane Aquaforce, again playing away because of their ground conditions, but had they won, the tie in the next round would have read Holmfirth Town v Holmfirth Town Reserves. 

A second 3-2 win was Grange Moor’s over Aughton Black Bull, but the tie went into extra time. Moor’s opponents are an Over 35 team who are based 11 miles the other side of Sheffield.

They soon settled and played the better football – was the age group having an effect on the Moor’s attitude? Aughton took the lead but Moor’s leading scorer Tom Whitfield equalised.

Aughton took the lead for a second time and the two goals to win the match came from two of the Moor players from the opposite end of the age spectrum. Firstly, the over-40 manager and substitute Richard Walker was forced to put himself on and he proved his worth with the equaliser that took the tie into extra time. And the winner came from the youngest member of the team , 17-year-old Matt Oldfield.

Another 3-2 victory also came Upperthong’s way as they beat Penistone Church, another Over 35 team.

The conditions were too bad to play on their normal field at Sands Rec, so Hade Edge accommodated them by moving their third team to Flowery Fields and allowing the Cup game to go ahead.

Upperthong started the better and led when Ben Raven-Hill headed home. Penistone were awarded a penalty from which they scored and for the rest of the first half, it was the Church side who had the upper hand.

Upperthong then fell behind and with 10 minutes to play, they still trailed 2-1. A change of formation quickly brought results with two late goals.

Phil Barber found the bottom right hand corner of the net for the equaliser and with the last touch of the match, Tom Eastwood scored the winner.

Cumberworth ensured a third round tie by beating yet another Over 35 team in Elsecar Dynamos 2-1. On arriving at the ground, Cumberworth noticed that the opposition keeper was the ex-pro Mark Crossley of Nottingahm Forest fame.

The match was played in windy conditions which were in Cumberworth’s favour in the first half but the Huddersfield side failed to take the chances that came their way. In the second period, Elsecar attacked more but in the 57th minute, a breakaway ended as Kane Bowker beat Crossley at his near post.

Elsecar replied with a well-worked equaliser and as the 90th minute loomed, extra time seemed likely. But in the last minute, Cumberworth took a short corner to Carlo Whitaker who drove the ball across the face of the goal and James Coleman met it at the far post to grab the winner.

The biggest win was from Skelmanthorpe, who scored five without reply when they travelled to New Bohemiams.

These results mean that the District League has five clubs in the last 16 and it could be five in the last eight. None of the District League teams were drawn against each other in the second round and the same has happened in the third.

Draw is: Grange Moor v Millmoor Juniors; Hall Green Utd Res v Upperthong; Skelmanthorpe v Scawthorpe Scorpions; Shaw Lane Aquaforce v Holmfirth Town and Cumberworth v Treeton Terriers.

In the Sheffield Challenge Cup (open to Division I teams in the League), Shepley lost 3-1 to Joker while Scholes’s game was postponed, so they play today against Worsborough Bridge.

The “lucky” side must be Holmbridge – but it’s not their fault. In the first round, they received a bye. In the second round they were due to face Boynton Sports but they failed to raise a team so Holmbridge progress – that means that Holmbridge are in the last 16 and have still to kick a ball in the competition. They play Hall Green Utd in the third round.

There was also some knockout action in the League Cups and Meltham Athletic caused the surprise of the day in the Barlow Cup.

Having won only two of their eight League games and without some of their regulars, Second Division Meltham didn’t expect to win at First Division Heywood Irish but a goal from Adam Matthews was the only goal of the game.

In the Richardson Cup, Britannia Sports Reserves almost matched Meltham’s performance. Britannia are bottom of Reserve Division One and they faced the top of that division in Honley Reserves, but Honley had “to pull out all the stops” to win 4-3.

In League action, Lepton Highlanders notched their first win of the season by beating Netherton 5-3 while in Division Three, Brook Motors lost their first game going down 4-1 to Aimbry.

With AFC Lindley winning 4-0 against Paddock, Lindley now go two points clear at the top.

If you were a Scholes supporter, then you would have had a quiet Saturday. As reported earlier, Scholes first team were due to play in the Sheffield County Cup but the match was postponed. But last Saturday, their seconds and thirds had something unusual in common. The seconds were due to play at Shepley Reserves in a Reserve Division I fixture but Shepley failed to raise a team. Their “A” team were drawn away to Meltham Athletic “B” in the Gee Cup but Meltham failed to raise a team.