Leyburn reach final of Dales Cup after win on penalties

redcard1 — Spennithorne and Harmby's Tim Weatherill sees red in the game against Carperby. Photo: Arwel Carter.

Leyburn have had a season to forget in the league but a slice of luck means they could still lift silverware.

This report is sponsored by:

The Wensleydale team made the final of the Dales Cup thanks to a win on penalties over league leaders Richmond Town Reserves after the game finished 0-0 in normal time.

However, they only reached the semi-final after their opposition in the quarter-finals, Bedale Town Reserves, who put eight past them without reply, withdrew from the competition.

The win sets up a final against Unicorn, who scraped through with a narrow 3-2 win over Richmond Buck.

The match on June 30 at Reeth will be the last game of the season.

Although they are out of the Dales Cup, Richmond Town Reserves are still in the hunt for league honours.

They travelled to Aldborough to face the Buck on Saturday and came away with a 5-1 win.

In a game played in searing heat, Town had the advantage of a large, young squad and they rotated regularly to keep the pressure on the home side through the 90 minutes.

Nathan Simpson gave Town the lead midway through the first half as he slalomed through the home defence before playing a 1-2 with Rob Davidson and then firing home.

Buck equalised just before half time in controversial fashion, with a free kick awarded the away side were sorting out their wall when Paul Brown passed the ball into an empty net. Despite heated Town calls pointing out that he hadn’t blown his whistle, the ref waved away the away teams complaints.

Within two minutes of the second half starting Town were back in front — a 40-yard ball over the top from Simpson put Gilroy through and he finished with aplomb.

Five minutes later it was 3-1, a ball forward was flicked on by Wooff and Barry Beresford finished in style. Town were now in full flow and it was Gilroy again on 70 minutes when Wooff laid the ball to him and he curled home from outside the area.

In stoppage time Gilroy was brought down in the box and stepped up to bravely complete his hat-trick after missing from the spot in the midweek shootout loss.

Leyburn’s cup success failed to transfer to the league as a much-changed starting 11 was walloped 8-0 by Mavericks on Saturday.

Former Northern League striker Wayne Gredziak got a hat-trick while son Brandon also got on the scoresheet, along with Sam Pickersgill, who got two, Bradley Galloway and Tom Cookson.

Elsewhere in the league, there were no less than four red cards in the game at Spennithorne who entertained Carperby, which the visitors won 2-1.

Goals from Scott and Sam Lambert secured the points for Carperby. Tony Beales netted from the penalty spot for the home side.

Among those sent off was Spenni player manager Barry Harker. It is understood bad language rather than rash challenges prompted the ref to reach for the red card.

Colburn exacted revenge for their loss to Hawes a week earlier by winning the return fixture 4-2.

Nigel Cole scored after just three minutes, while Craig Teasdale made it two shortly afterwards.

Tommy Calvert reduced the deficit with a tap in from a rebound off the post from a shot from Dan Richardson but a goal from Stuart Murray maintained the two-goal cushion.

Macauley Acton scored after a driving run from Richardson before the break, but a goal from Steven McDonald soon after the restart secured the win for the home side.

In the remaining game of the day, Unicorn kept up their title challenge with a 3-1 win over Reeth.

Results

Dales Cup – 26.5.21

Richmond Town Reserves 0-0 Leyburn (Pens 2-4)

Unicorn 3-2 Richmond Buck

League – 29.5.21

Colburn 4-2 Hawes

Reeth 1-3 Unicorn

Richmond Buck 1-5 Richmond Town Reserves

Richmond Mavericks 8-0 Leyburn

Spennithorne 1-2 Carperby

Fixtures