HOLKER Old Boys ended a run of four straight defeats in the North West Counties First Division by beating Atherton LR 2-0 to re-ignite their play-off chances.

Second half goals from Jordan Brough and Mike Rushton secured the much-needed win that moves Holker back up to fifth in the table.

Five of The Stags’ six remaining games are against sides in the top eight, starting with the visit of Stockport Town to Rakesmoor tomorrow night, (8pm kick-off).

With Hanley Town and Irlam looking good for the automatic promotion places, there are seven clubs in contention for the four play-off berths and Holker will hope to be one of them.

Holders of the North Lancs League Sam Price Memorial Cup, Cartmel, bowed out of the competition as they lost for the first time in 2016.

They lost 3-2 against Trimpell and Bare Rangers in a physical encounter after a busy midweek which saw them draw 1-1 at home to Caton United and win 2-1 at Galgate in league fixtures.

Cartmel still have two more chances of lifting silverware this season having already reached the Westmorland Senior Cup and the Eric Wilson Challenge Cup finals.

In the West Lancashire League Premier Division Vickerstown picked up a point from a 1-1 draw with Euxton Villa thanks to a late equaliser from Josh Gay.

Crooklands Casuals were totally outplayed by a very classy Fulwood Amateurs, going down 10-0 to the league leaders.

Hawcoat Park’s hopes of finishing second in Division One suffered a blow as they lost 3-0 at Tempest United, a result that keeps Tempest in the hunt. At the other end of the table Askam United had a vital win over Dalton United at Duddon Road, which almost certainly dooms Dalton.

The 3-0 win came from two Callum Rayner penalties and a goal from Ryan Brown.

GSK Ulverston Rangers boosted their survival chances with braces from Matty Lawlor and Sam Lightfoot earning them a 4-1 win over Haslingden St Mary’s.

Two local sides progressed in the Division Two Challenge Cup and will meet in the semi-final on Tuesday 26th at Furness Rovers. Walney Island came through a remarkable game at Tummerhill that finished 4-3 after Walney had been 3-0 ahead at half-time.

The game was played in very windy conditions and Swarthmoor’s Rikki Gallagher scored an own goal from the halfway line to give Walney the lead. Gallagher was then involved in a fracas with Walney’s Tommy Wilson and both received red cards.

Further goals followed for Walney from Keiron Solloway and Matt Lockley, but with the wind in their favour after the break, Swarthmoor scored twice through the in-form Cameron Barker before Graham Wilcox scored the equaliser.

The game was settled when Swarthmoor’s Joe Price conceded a penalty for deliberate handball and was sent off, with Reece Fleming netting the decisive spot kick. Miilom’s progress was more straight forward as they pulled off a very good 2-0 win over promotion-chasing CMB thanks to goals from Danny Pattinson and Ben McDonald.

In the league Furness Rovers and Furness Cavaliers both travelled into Lancashire with differing fortunes. Rovers went down 3-1 at Croston Sports with Joe Tindale scoring the goal while Cavaliers won 3-2 at Leyland United.

With four father and son combinations involved in some capacity, one of them, Kyle Delves, scored twice in the first half. Ben Gregg scored what proved to be the winner with 11 minutes left as Cavs withstood a late onslaught from the home side.

Hawcoat Park reserves reached the final of the Terry Clinton Memorial Trophy with a 4-3 win over Vickerstown reserves, three days after they had lost to them 6-2 in a league fixture. Hawcoat’s Brandon Collins and Jake Rees both scored twice with Vickerstown’s goals coming from Scott McDonald, 2, and Mike Imison.

With the top two sides before kick-off in cup action the four sides in the Rifleman’s Garage Premier Division’s chasing pack all recorded victories. Kirkby United left it very late to beat Barrow Wanderers 3-2 with Leigh Cockburn scoring an injury-time winner after Rob Fugler had equalised from the penalty spot in the 90th minute. Matty Bruce scored earlier for Kirkby while Ryan Docherty scored both goals for an unlucky Wanderers. The win moves Kirkby up to second in the table.

Haverigg United moved up to third by Beating Britannia 5-2 with John Chmiel scoring four. The other goal came from Andrew Walker while for Britannia 16-year-old Tyler McPherson scored his first goal for the first team in only his second appearance and Jordan Wallace also scored. Holker Old Boys had a convincing 5-0 win at Swarthmoor Social reserves with Steve Forbes scoring a hat-trick and Spencer Erdis scoring twice.

GSK Ulverston Rangers reserves got back to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Askam United reserves with rare goals from Ronan Simpson and Brad Joy. Askam’s top scorer Brad Jackson was their marksman.

Jack Dulgnan scored a hat-trick for Barrow Celtic as they beat Bootle 4-0 on Saturday with Ben Phizacklea also finding the net. Phizacklea was also on target on Thursday as Celtic won 5-2 at Furness Cavaliers reserves. The other scorers were Carl Pearson, 2, Danny Mackay and Rob Johnson while Mike Robinson and Jack Browne scored for Cavaliers.

Millom reserves have suddenly found form and won again, beating Furness Rovers reserves 4-1 through goals from Chris Wood 2, Andrew Woodburn and Theo Wilson. Tom Clynch replied for Rovers.

Croftlands Park secured the Premier Tiles Division One title in fine style with a 12-0 victory over Barrow Wanderers reserves. Matt Dean scored five goals, Andrew Currie four, Steven Grundy, two, and Martin Grundy and Shaun Dixon both found the net.

Dalton United reserves also had an impressive win, beating Ulverston Rangers A 7-0. Mark Jones was another player to grab a hat-trick with the other goals coming from Ben Thompson, 2, Gavin Rea and Jack Hurst.

Vickerstown A beat Barrow Celtic reserves 2-1 through Iaian McDonald and an Andrew Hammond penalty. Shaun Yates replied for Celtic.

Two games were played on Friday night. Crooklands Casuals reserves drew 2-2 with Hawcoat Park A with goals from Dan Sharp and a last-minute Tony Butler penalty. Hawcoat’s scorers were Ryan Muncaster and Luke Mitchell.

Goals from Ricky Jeynes and Gavin Scudamore earned Haverigg United reserves a 2-1 win at Holker Old Boys A, whose scorer was Kev Hodgson.

Reigning champions Ormsgill North End celebrated being presented with the Division Two trophy by league sponsor Dave Staunton, of Premier Tiles, with a 1-0 win over Dalton United A. Tom Dodd scored the only goal midway through the first half.

Kirkby United reserves had a good win at Bootle reserves, winning 6-1. Andrew Benson scored a hat-trick with Callum Ferreira, Euan Forsyth and Andy Proctor completing the scoring, while Kevin Hartley scored for Bootle.