Kirkheaton knew they were in for a tough time against a Howden Clough side chasing the Under 11 Division IVA league title and went down 7-3.
However, their hopes were raised after just five minutes when Clough failed to clear a corner allowing Joe Burns to stab home the game’s opening goal from close range.
The chances of an upset doubled five minutes later when Burns and Calean Hadwen combined to set up Tyreese Wilson who lifted the ball over keeper Tom Coy to give the home side a surprise two goal lead.
But, having allowed Kirkheaton through twice, the Clough defence of Mohammed Patel, Kaydon Thomas and Miles Craven became much meaner and Kirkheaton struggled for the rest of the first half.
Harry Rhodes pulled one back for the visitors on the quarter hour mark and Oliver Borrows levelled soon after.
The home side were struggling to match the power and pace of the visitors who were soon in front when Rhodes grabbed his second following a goalmouth scramble.
And when Mohammed Patel sent a pass down the left, Burrows fired an angled shot into the bottom corner to give Clough a 2 goal breathing space.
Degan Yates got his name on the scoresheet when he turned home a Patel cross soon after the break to extend Clough’s lead but Kirkheaton weren’t finished yet.
Ben Carrigan found Joe Burns who netted a 3rd for the home side to keep the game interesting and they might still have got something from the game but a missed penalty left the score unchanged.
With time ticking away fast, Harry Rhodes completed his hat trick before before Dominic Nelson scored a seventh for Clough to secure victory and three points for Clough.
The weather thankfully relented enough to allow a full programme of RCD League and Cup games to be played.
Golcar United moved into the last 8 of the under 11 Cup with a narrow victory at Queensbury.
Nathan Kavanagh struck twice to seal a 1-2 win for Golcar who now travel to Clifton Rangers with a semi-final spot for the winners.
Honley booked a semi-final spot in the under 12 Cup with victory at Greetland.
Greetland found the net once but replies from Harrison Booth (2), Elijah Sheard, Matthew Foster and Matthew Crane sealed a comfortable 1-5 win for Honley who now meet Westend Lions who booked their place thanks to the same score against Penistone.
Tom Brook, Marcus Mangoro, Harry Scott, Alfie Westwood and Toby Harrison were on target for Westend.
The RCD League Trophy, for teams in the lower divisions, is being played for the first time this season and Halifax Irish under 14’s moved closer to a Final appearance with victory over Brighouse.
Brighouse were unable to find the net as goals from Marlow (2) and Welch secured Halifax Irish a meeting with Norristhorpe in the semi-final.
In the League there were 11 goals to savour for the spectators at Lepton Highlanders who were entertaining Rastrick in their Under 11 Div IV league encounter.
Unfortunately for the home side, most were scored by their title chasing visitors.
Sam Sykes, Sebastian Voyce and Logan Butler were on target for the Highlanders but replies from Rishi Pathak (2), Lewis Todd, Tom Bracher, William Thompson and an Alex Livermore hat trick sealed a comfortable victory for Rastrick.
A number of Cup games have reached the semi-final stages and the following games will be played next Sunday at Leeds Road Playing Fields with the schedule: Under 13 - Lepton Highlanders v Northowram (1.0),
Under – YMCA v Skelmanthorpe (11.0), Under – Dewsbury Rangers v Uppermill (1.0), Under 18 – Howden Clough v Todmorden (1.0)
