THE District League will have one representative in the County Cup finals as Shepley beat Crofton Sports 3-1 to reach the final of the Sheffield & Hallamshire County Cup.

Both sides were optimistic as, between them, they had eliminated last year’s finalists – Kirkburton and Stocksbridge Park Steels.

Crofton provided an early scare for District League side but keeper Tom Pinder made a save from point blank range.

Ten minutes later it was 2-0 Shepley. The first corner of the game was headed home by Ryan Blackburn and shortly after, Sam Haigh held off some defensive challenges before slipping the ball past the Crofton keeper.

Lyam Gill pounced to make it 3-0 before the break after the opposition keeper only partly saved a free-kick.

Ten minutes into the second half, Crofton pulled one back when Kristian Thackray scored direct from a free-kick from the edge of the box and despite plenty of Crofton possession, Shepley comfortably held on to their 3-1 lead.

Man of the match Jon Lockwood made a number of vital interceptions and Danny Ingham almost made it 4-1.

Shepley now face Aquaforce Barnsley in the final at Worksop Town’s ground on April 12.

The first of the semi-finalists for the Barlow Cup is now known and it’s Netherton, but they needed extra-time before beating local rivals Berry Brow.

Since the start of 2012, the Brow had drawn one and lost four of their five games, so the cup tie against Netherton was their last chance to win a trophy this season.

On the other Netherton had won 14 of their last 15 games. Despite these statistics, the Brow gave “as good as they got” and overall it was an even encounter.

The only goal of the first half came when Netherton’s Bryn Jenkins headed home from a corner. It appeared that this was to be the only goal of the game until four minutes from time, when a bouncing ball was handled by the Netherton defence and Danny Ryan equalised.

The Brow almost claimed a winner when, following a corner, the ball fell to Tom Gubbini and he hit a 20-yarder which beat the keeper, but Lee Wharam headed the ball over the bar to send the game into extra-time.

Jenkins scored his second when the ball bounced kindly this time for Netherton and he struck a volley into the net.

Berry Brow Reserves also exited the League Cup. They forced Uppermill Reserves into extra-time and only succumbed after penalties. Richard Hanvey and Ben Cornelly were the men on target for the Brow.

Brow’s A team saved the day for the club when they won their second-round match in the Gee Cup. Three goals from Matty Oakes and another from Warren Pickard gave them a 4-1 victory over cup holders KKS Sun Inn Reserves.

Two of the top three in Division Three met in the Groom Cup and they had met just 14 days before when Holmfirth won 3-0 in the League. This time Dalton took revenge.

An impressive strike from James Whyte in the third minute gave the Crusaders a perfect start which became even better only four minutes later, a curled shot from Daniel Ballanfonte making it 2-0. Midway through the first half, Holmfirth almost pulled one back but Scott Anderson’s shot hit the bar.

Early in the second half, Louis Langfield opened Holmfirth’s scoring to make it 2-1 but shortly after, Joel Franklyn restored Crusaders two-goal advantage.

This scoring pattern was then repeated. A Langfield goal followed by a Franklyn goal led to a 4-2 scoreline with 15 minutes to play. Holmfirth’s Jimmy Phillips scored in the 83rd minute but Dalton hung on for their win.

Despite some weeks without a match being played, the decision to play two midweek games at start of the season is proving to have been a wise one.

Some clubs have only two games to play and will finish the season with Saturday fixtures only.

However, the mixture of postponed games and cup runs can cause massive variations between clubs.

This is best illustrated at the foot of Division One. The three clubs most likely to provide the relegated teams are Britannia Sports, Slaithwaite United and Holmbridge.

Britannia have only two to play while Holmbridge have six. Slaithwaite on the other hand have completed only just over half of their League fixtures and have 10 to play – eight games in hand of Britannia.