HEYWOOD Irish Reserves are through to the final of the Richardson Cup with a 2-1 victory over Diggle A.

Veteran striker Bert Green opened the scoring for Heywood midway through the first half with a glancing header into the corner from a Matty Roberts free kick.

Anthony Collins doubled the score in the second period from the penalty spot when the assistant referee judged a handball by a Diggle defender.

With 10 minutes remaining, Jason Stone replied for Diggle with a long-range strike into the top corner. This encouraged a revival but Diggle were off target as time ran out.

Royal Dolphins have secured the title in Division IV.

Lindley Reserves remained on course for promotion with a 3-2 win against Stag Reserves.

Lindley started brightest, passing well in windy conditions, however Stag created the best early chance – a shot fired over from eight yards out.

Lindley continued to create chances and were unfortunate for a borderline offside to be given against them.

However, after 20 minutes, they took the lead when Woodhouse played a neat ball through to Smith to leave him one one-on-one with the keeper, who made a good block only for the ball to rebound for Woodhouse to score.

Lindley quickly doubled their lead when a ball over the top was chased down by Smith and confusion between a defender and the keeper allowed him to bundle home.

The second half again started with Lindley attacking and they were quickly three up when a neat pass by Riley allowed Smith to volley into the bottom corner.

The game was not finished though as, with an hour on the clock, the Lindley goalkeeper was shown a red card after bringing down a Stag striker just outside the box. As he was last man the referee had no choice.

Stag now seized the initiative and put pressure on the Lindley defence, using the extra man and the wind to their advantage.

The Lindley defence, though, held firm and they were unlucky not to increase their lead on the break.

With 15 minutes left, a ball over the top allowed Stag to pull a goal back and, 10 minutes later, they got another with a lob over the stand-in keeper.

Stag now sensed another goal and Lindley had to hold firm from four corners in a row.

In the last minute, Lindley almost sealed the game when, after being teed up by Taylor, Woodhouse’s low shot was superbly saved.

A quick clearance found a Stag player free of the defence, but he was fouled just outside the area.

From the free kick, the ball found the head of a Stag player but he headed agonisingly wide just before the final whistle.