AFTER heavy overnight rain on Friday the local football fixtures took another battering as most pitches couldn’t cope with the amount of water that came down. One fixture that did take place was at Hawcoat Park where leaders Hawcoat Park Res took on Holker Old Boys Res who themselves still harbour aspirations of winning the league.

Hawcoat started the brightest and took the lead within two minutes after Nathan Reid chased down a lost cause won the ball in the opposition corner flag, honed in on goal and fired a low unstoppable shot in from an acute angle. This woke Holker up and they should have equalised when Sam Lightfoot was clean through on goal and looked favourite to score but Ben Mills stood up strong to block the effort.

Against the run of play young Frankie Ellis latched onto a clearance to hit a cracking shot from 25 yards for a 2-0 lead to the home side within 37 minutes. Trying to keep this lead into halftime Hawcoat conceded possession from their own throw to allow Holker back into an even contest on 43 minutes through Lightfoot, who finished off well atoning for his earlier miss.

The second half continued as first half with both sides playing some excellent football. Holker then lost centre half Rob Parker to injury which gave Hawcoat fresh impetus but no clear cut chances were created by either side. Holker were then reduced to 10 men as a defender was dismissed for a last man challenge on Ryan Muncaster.

Hawcoat had chances to finish the game off especially with a clear far post header from Jordan Rooney which he put straight into the keeper’s hands. Even with 10 men, Holker proved the more threatening of the two teams but Hawcoat held on to claim the three points.

Excellent returns to their old clubs from Harry Copeland and Callum Baynes of Holker and man of the match for Hawcoat was Lewis Turner.

In the only other Furness Premier League game to survive the weather, Haverigg United beat Furness Rovers Res 4-1. John Chmiel hit a hat-trick and Bradley Maine scored the other for Haverigg. Chris Herbert replied for Rovers for whom youngster Oliver Pucknell had a fine debut after stepping up from their U16s.

In the First Division title hopefuls Coniston had a surprise 3-3 draw with bottom club Barrow Celtic Res. Phil Edmondson hit another hat-trick for Coniston. Jordan Wallace, Jordan Chapman and Rob Johnson all scored for Celtic. Askam beat Ormsgill 2-0.

In the West Lancs League only three games involving local sides took place. In the First Division GSK Ulverston Rangers took the bragging rights as they beat Askam 2-0. Jamie Tweddle and Andy Whiteford scored for GSK who remain bottom of the table and still eight points from safety but they do have games in hand and could still pull off the great escape.

In Division Two the team of the month curse came to haunt Walney who picked up the accolade for February only to see March start with a 4-2 home defeat at the hands of Hurst Green Res. Mike Carr and Seth Story scored for the Islanders. Furness Rovers also suffered a home defeat going down 3-2 to Thornton Cleveleys Res. Liam Shields and Josh Jones scored for Rovers.

In the Reusch First Division Cup Semi-final Holker Old Boys were beaten 3-1 at home by Sandbach United. Holker now face an uphill task in the second leg.

One game that did survive the weather was the first ever Dean Zaccarini Memorial game which was arranged in memory of the much loved young musician who sadly died last year, the game was played on the 3G surface between select teams from Walney and Barrow made up of Dean’s friends.

The game finished in a 3-3 draw with Holker players Mark Conlin and Spencer Erdis scoring for Barrow while Andy Hale, Anthony Horton and Aaron Zaccarini scored for Walney. The game was decided on penalties and the Barrow select took home the trophy.