Oxenhope 3 Farnley 1

A MATCH of contrasting styles saw Oxenhope negotiate a tricky hurdle in overcoming Farnley from the Yorkshire Amateur League to move into the fourth round of the County Cup.

The visitors, unbeaten in their league this season, posed a big, strong and physical threat which Oxenhope had to quickly come to terms with.

The home side took the lead on 20 minutes when a cleverly worked corner between Ollie Metcalfe and Tom Marshall allowed Dan Moriarty to rifle the ball into the top left corner from the edge of the box, and after that Oxenhope dominated the rest of the half.

They were guilty though of missing several good opportunities to put the tie to bed and the woodwork came to Farnley’s rescue on a couple of occasions.

Early in the second half the home side doubled their advantage following good build-up play between Metcalfe and Moriarty, the latter beating his man and squaring the ball to Marshall at the far post to side-foot the ball home.

The visitors struggled to cope with the pace of Leon Smith and Marshall but once again openings were not converted.

It appeared that Oxenhope’s task would be made even easier even when the Farnley captain received a second yellow card for a heavy tackle on keeper Sam Lee and was dismissed from the field but, as often happens, Farnley’s ten men galvanised themselves and came back into the game.

They put the Oxenhope defence under pressure and when Scott Nelson’s attempted clearance was sliced into his own net it put the tie back on a knife edge.

Ten minutes later all fears of an upset were quelled when Smith hurdled two lunging challenges and squared the ball to Moriarty to force his second in at the far post.

In round four Oxenhope will meet Howden Clough, also from the West Yorkshire League, in a home tie to be played in January.

This Saturday Oxenhope return to league matters when they travel to East End Park Leeds (2pm).

Last week’s County Trophy tie for the reserves against Mount St Mary’s was postponed because of an icy pitch so they will try again this Saturday (1pm).

Team: Lee, Day (Kaine), McNicol, Nelson, Walton, White, Morris(Quinlan), Moriarty, Smith, Metcalfe, Marshall.

Oxenhope third team's game at Settle Reserves was postponed because of the weather. This week they travel to Sutton (2pm).