Carrington scale new heights by reaching County Cup semi-finals

The result put Mullaney’s men into the semi-finals of the cup for the first time, and means they are in the last four of three competitions, the others being the Eddie Hebblethwaite Sunday Cup and the Briggs Priestley Senior Cup.

“It’s as far as we’ve ever got in the competition,” Mullaney said of the County Cup win. “We knew it was a big game and they were a really good side.

“But we played really well and we deserved to win it.

“We fell behind after 30 seconds - they’re a big side so we wanted to get the ball down and play, but we tried a one-two on the edge of our box and gave the ball away.

“We dominated after that and went 2-1 up, but they equalised just before half-time through an own goal.

“They scored again just after half-time after we went into a bit of a lull, I think we were a bit shell-shocked.

“But we equalised and then we didn’t look back after that and could have got a few more.

“It’s probably the best result and performance of the season. There are no mugs at this stage of the competition and they had a couple of top notch players.

“It’s the biggest thing you can win in Sunday football. We’ve won a lot of trophies and we’re proud of what we’ve won before but this is our main focus now.

“Having said that, we don’t want to take our eye off the league and the other cups we’re in.”

Carrington are currently fifth in the Premier Division, 10 points off leaders Waiters Arms having played four games less, and face a hectic run-in to the end of the season, starting with a trip to Hollins Holme on Sunday.

“We’ve not got a massive squad, but everyone is turning up and being reliable at the moment,” added Mullaney.

“We just need to keep it going. It’s always a good game against Hollins Holme, they’re a big, strong side and if we’re not at our best we’ll come unstuck.

“Every single game from now on is a cup final for us. We would choose for it to be this way, it’s just a lot of games to get through.

“The County Cup will be the hardest to win - it’s a few years since a Halifax side won it.

“Technically we could win all four competitions but there’s a long way to go yet. I would put Waiters as favourites to win the league as they’ve got the points on the board. We need to just take each game as it comes and see where it takes us.”

In the Eddie Hebblethwaite Sunday Cup, Halifax Hammers beat Feathers 6-2 to set-up a tasty-looking semi-final against fellow Premier Division high-flyers Waiters Arms. Carrington will play Barge in the other semi-final.

Lee Mount took what could be a pivotal step towards the Division One title with a 3-1 win over leaders Halifax Hammers Reserves to Shroggs Park.

The win leaves Mount three points behind Hammers in second place with two games in hand.

Both sides failed to capitalise with possession on the heavy pitch but John Mark Sawyer was the first to do so for Mount with an outstanding through ball to Jordan Heath who turned his defender inside out then finished superbly into the bottom right corner before half time.

The second half began and much like the first with Hammers still unable to test the Lee Mount goal, with Mount dominating the possession Jordan Ryder managed to beat the offside trap to put them two up. Hammers then pushed on and began to control the game but the back four marshalled by star man Ryan Parker held firm.

Hammers finally pulled one back after seventy minutes with Lee Mount’s lack of defending from the front they broke free on the counter attack and scored with the mount defence adamant that an offside decision should of been given.

This woke Lee mount up and with ten minutes to go Sawyer saw a fine effort saved only to fall to Ryder who made no mistake with the open goal gaping from six yards out to give Mount the three points and swung their title challenge further in their favour.

Old Pond were beaten 8-1 by a Dayle Maguire inspired Ryburn Valley as Richard Dawson’s side slipped to second bottom in Division One.

Pond started the brighter on Savile Park without truly testing Matty Hirst in the Valley net and looked solid enough until a defensive mistake allowed Maguire to fire home his first of the match on twenty minutes.

It took only two minutes for the home side to double their lead; Maguire didn’t need a second invitation to strike home after hesitancy at the back from the Hove Edge side.

A formation swap for Pond saw Wayne Allert and Paul Taylor go close, before a quick-fire treble from Maguire constituted a disappointing collapse from the visitors who were struggling against the pace of the Valley front man.

Steve Galloway’s free kick was blocked as Pond tried to forge a way back, with the subsequent follow-up zipped over after an agile Lee Williams overhead effort.

Scott Parkinson rounded off a terrific first half for his side in burying a cross beyond Jason Kirby in the Pond net, whilst for the visitors this constituted a worst showing of the campaign.

With only pride now at stake Pond improved in the second period although Maguire sealed a personal half-dozen haul to make it seven without reply. Galloway and Michael Barlow had opportunities for Pond, before Lee Williams bundled home a Kristian Ellis corner for a consolation.

The icing on the cake was sealed for the deserved home victors when substitute Jonathan Booth broke down the left and finished past Kirby to make it 8-1.

The victory sent Valley into the promotion picture at the top of the table just behind Lee Mount.

At the bottom, Oddfellows 4-1 defeat of a Halifax Rangers side still without a point meant that they leap-frogged Pond, although all three of those sides remain in the relegation spaces.

Elsewhere, Beehive and Crosskeys won 3-2 at Ryburn United.

In Division Two, goals from Reece Kendall and Stefan Drakes meant that Halifax Amateurs sealed promotion in a 2-1 win against nearest rivals Triangle. Craig Billington was on the scoresheet for the defeated side, but they were already promoted alongside champions Fountain Head. Weavers FC were the side left just outside the promotion frame in fourth place.