Honley cruised past East End Park Reserves 3-1 to progress to the quarter finals of the West Riding FA’s Challenge Trophy.
Honley, who had the home advantage in this cup tie made the most of it creating a great chance on six minutes, James Clapham fed in Dylan Brett whose shot was just off target.
The warning signs were there for East End, but they seemingly ignored them as Clapham turned provider once again, this time threading a through ball to 16-year-old Ben Lindley, who calmly slotted his shot past the keeper and into the bottom corner to put his side 1-0 up.
However, the visitors recovered well from the set back and created two good chances from long balls which caught the Honley backline napping.
The first chance was a weak effort that failed to test Jordan Robinson, but the second was a brilliant strike which Robinson some how kept out with a fine stop.
In the second half East End played some great passing football and stretched the Honley defence, before a cross into the area was smashed home to level the scores leaving Robinson helpless between the sticks.
Conceding an equaliser sparked life into Honley, who rearranged things with Oliver Willitts playing a more central role alongside skipper Daniel Knutton.
The move paid off on the hour mark when Willitts went on a 20 yard run before unleashing a thunderous shot, that was parried by the East End keeper to the feet of youngster Lindley, who buried the chance to double his tally for the day and put his side 2-1 ahead.
After the goal Honley looked comfortable and almost added to their lead when Daniel Goodwin’s lung bursting run down the right wing led to a pin point cross come shot which just scrapped the top of the crossbar.
And minutes later substitute Tom Butcher crossed in from the left and picked out Lindley who could have netted his hat trick, but he steered his header wide of the target.
The home fans didn’t have long to wait before they saw their team wrap the game up. Honley’s third goal came in the 79th minute when Willitts won the ball on the halfway line before Clapham pounced on the lose ball and out sprinted the East End defence to place his shot past the sliding keeper.
Clapham has now scored in every round of the cup, but manager Richard Bray will be more pleased with the fact his side’s hopes for a cup success this season are still alive after their disappointing District Cup exit at home to Shelley last month.
The comfortable win will also give Bray’s men confidence ahead of playing their games in hand, which could see Honley climb from sixth all the way up to second in the West Riding County Division Two.
