District League sides did not do very well in the two Sheffield knockout competitions.

In the Challenge Cup, Holmfirth Town, Shepley and Scholes all exited the competition but they were not disgraced as they all lost by a single goal, and after extra time in Shepley’s case.

Holmbridge do live to fight another day as their match with Crofton Sports failed to get started as no official referee turned up and no suitable alternative could be found.

In the Sheffield Junior Cup, four sides lost, Cumberworth’s game was postponed but the League had a winner in the shape of Upperthong who beat Tusaale United 1-0.

Upperthong’s opponents had to travel from the south part of Sheffield and they returned with nothing from a scrappy match.

Upperthong were without a few players but still managed to win with the only goal of the game coming from James Earnshaw.

In the Barlow Cup (for teams in Division One and Two), there was just one inter-divisional game in which Berry Brow easily beat Slaithwaite Utd 6-0.

There were two Division One clashes. Two goals from Gareth Chew gave Diggle a 2-1 win over Netherton but this was a much closer scoreline than when they met early in the season. The other was Shelley’s 3-2 at Britannia Sports.

Two Division Two sides met when Lepton were drawn to play Meltham and the latter became the first side to reach the last eight.

The score was 2-2 after extra time but Meltham won 4-3 on penalties.

Meltham’s goals came at either end of the tie. They opened the scoring after just four minutes with a goal from Dean Sykes and they held the lead until the 55th minute when Andrew Gray equalised for Lepton.

In extra time it was Lepton who were quick off the blocks, scoring after just four minutes and Alex Gee left it late for Meltham with a goal two minutes from time.

Both sides scored their first two penalties and then both missed their third attempts. Lepton missed their fourth and Meltham went on to win 4-3.

The draw for the second round is Berry Brow v Cumberworth, Scholes or Skelmanthorpe v Shepley or HV Academicals, Hepworth v Linthwaite, Aimbry v Holmfirth Town or Newsome, Heywood Irish v Shelley, Heyside v KKS or Holmbridge, Diggle v Kirkheaton.

The Groom Cup (for clubs in Division Three and Four) had only two inter-divisional games and both went to form.

AFC Lindley and Scissett beat Thornhill Utd and Fantastic respectively.

There was one game which saw two clubs face each other and whoever won was going to be winning for the first time this season.

The result went in favour of Grange Moor, who beat Paddock Rangers, and with this being a second-round encounter, the Moor are through to the last eight. Junction will be joining them in the quarter finals after they recorded their sixth successive victory when they beat Mount 7–0.

Marsden (under the name of Royal Oak) won the Groom Cup last season but they went out at the first stage going down 4-3 to their old foes Colne Valley.

They have already met twice in the League this season with Marsden coming out on top on both occasions, so they went into the tie as favourites.

Colne Valley did the bulk of the defending in the first half and almost kept the score at 0-0 but in the last minute of that half, Sam Boothroyd scored direct from a corner.

There may have been only one goal in the first half but there was a glut in the second. Two goals within five minutes from Buddy Cox and Grant Calcraft extended Marsden’s lead to 3-0 with only 30 minutes to play but Colne Valley replied from the re-start with a goal from Richard Hirst.

The normal frontman was playing wide on the right but with the introduction of Gary Holmes as sub, Hirst was pushed further up field and within 15 minutes he had pulled another back.

By the 80th minute, it was all square as captain Kevin Pearson headed home from a corner. He was also involved in the winner two minutes from time. He was pushed in the box and he took the penalty to give Colne Valley some revenge for their earlier defeats.

Colne Valley’s coach normally nominates his man of the match and while he had special praise for his two central defenders Liam Conheehey and Paul Nuttall, he felt that it was such a good team performance, he nominated the whole team.

Salendine Nook won their first six matches but that record went out of the window when they lost their League game with Black Horse.

Well, Black Horse proved that that result was no fluke as they have knocked them out of the Groom Cup after extra time and penalties. It was 2-2 after extra time and it took plenty of spot kicks before Black Horse won the shoot-out 6-5.

In League action, Division One leaders Newsome lost their 100% record, losing 2-1 to Hepworth United. There has been a change in the manager at Hepworth as Bob Wright has moved from being in charge of the second XI to taking the first team, and he started in the best possible manner by beating the leaders.

Jamie Clayton gave Hepworth a 1-0 interval lead and 20 minutes from the end, Ryan Silvester doubled the lead. Newsome struck the woodwork before finding the back of the net through Dwayne Wilkinson but, as that was just five minutes from time, they could not find an equaliser.

This leaves 3D Dynamos Reserves as the only team in the District League to have that 100% tag. They were in cup action last week and they recorded their 10th successive victory as they beat Aimbry Reserves 4-2 in the Gee Cup.