YORKSHIRE Lions moved into promotion contention when they scored a cracking 8-1 victory over Hall Green United in the Under 13 Division III.

For the whole of the first half, struggling Hall Green United looked likely to cause an upset on a heavy pitch at Warrenside, but a couple of Yorkshire Lions strikes early in the second half knocked the stuffing out of United.

Jacob Ghani got the Lions off to a quick start when he tapped the ball home at the far post thanks to a Jaron Edwards right-wing cross, but the setback sparked a period of pressure from Hall Green in which Bradley Kynaston grabbed an equaliser, turning home a Jordan Peters’ corner.

Kristof Fatrie, James Fleming and Peters worked hard for the visitors to keep the game evenly balanced, but their inability to take chances was punished five minutes before the interval when a long clearance found Edwards, whose shot from the corner of the area dipped over keeper James Whitfield and into the net.

A Ghani cross five minutes into the second half gave Edwards his second of the game to make it 3-1 and, although Cameron Doak and Kynaston tried hard to keep their team in the game, with only one win so far this season Hall Green had clearly lost belief that they could get anything out of it.

Even when they did get a break, the always dangerous Elliot Schofield was unable to find the mark, a shot over the bar being followed by a fine save from home keeper Jahmal Lewis to deny the Hall Green striker.

Will Crowcroft almost pulled one back for United but his blistering shot crashed down from the bar and was cleared to safety.

Fido Cassim extended the Lions’ lead with a delicate chip on the hour mark and, with any hope of a fightback virtually gone, the Lions ran in another four goals from Cassim, Muhamed Ceesay, Connor Steele and Brandon Aka.

Netherton Under 11s gave their promotion push a big boost with an away victory over Division II leaders Kexborough.

Kexborough’s form deserted them as James Sunderland, Zakeria Rafiq and Ryan Denton scored the goals to give Netherton a convincing 3-0 win to leave them on level points with their hosts with a game in hand.

Two sides hoping to get their season started were Brighouse B and Gomersal B in an Under 12 Division 4B meeting – they were the two lowest-placed sides in the age group.

With only one point between them to show for their efforts so far up to this point, both sides were in desperate need of a win and, although Gomersal put up a strong challenge with goals from Jordan Baldwin, Daniel Carter and Edward Murray, replies from Joseph Furness (2), Jamie Smythe and Sean Brown gave Brighouse a 4-3 victory and their first win of the season.

One of the upsets came in the Under 12 League Cup, where First Division Liversedge’s second-round meeting with Fourth Division Uppermill ended goalless, even after extra time.

The first goals of the game were scored in the penalty shoot-out, which was won 3-1 by Uppermill to hold onto their record of being unbeaten in all competitions.

And in the Under 17s, First Division Yorkshire Lions were dumped out of the Cup at Second Division Dewsbury Rangers.

Stewart and Peel were on target for the Lions but replies from Kilner, Coulborn and Manning gave the home side a 3-2 victory after extra-time to send Rangers into the third round.

A handful of outstanding County Cup games were finally settled and one noticeable result was in the Under 16 competition at Rastrick, where goals from Luke Craven (2), Tom Rose, Mitch Hirst and an own goal gave the home side a morale-boosting 5-3 victory over previously unbeaten Leeds-based Yorkshire Amateurs, who finished the game stunned.

Although the Brighouse side remain in contention for silverware in four different competitions, the League, League Cup, Halifax FA Cup and West Riding FA Cup, they face an extremely busy schedule as the severe weather has left them with a huge backlog of games to make up.

Rastrick now move into the last eight of the County competition where they will face a trip to Leeds for a meeting with either East End Park or Farsley Celtic on February 8.

RCD League officials are hoping they can continue to catch up with matches on this season’s fixture list as weather conditions are due to remain milder in the upcoming weeks.