FOOTBALL: Horncastle Town Reserves extend their lead in league

Three league games were due to be played also but the match between AFC Crown and Arrows and Fulbeck Utd was postponed.

The two remaining games had a bearing on the title race, the first involving leaders Horncastle Town Reserves who entertained mid table Ruston Sports.

While Horncastle were after their third league double, they were seeking a first win in three games.

Rustons on the other hand were after their fourth win in a row, their best run of the season.

Goals from Jack Baxter and Luke Blondel (his 13th goal of the season) gave Horncastle the three points with a 2-0 win, only the second occasion Rustons have failed to score.

The only other game was between third placed Cherry Willingham and second placed Birchwood United.

The previous meeting of these two sides was way back in September when they shared a 1-1 draw.

Still retaining their unbeaten league record, Birchwood were made to share another 1-1 draw as Cherry drew a game for the first time since that first meeting.

Dropping two points allowed Horncastle to extend their lead at the top to four points but they have just two games left while Birchwood have six and Cherry, one further point behind, have five.

Before the weekend games were played, the first of this season’s cup finals took place at Lincoln Moorland Railway ground on Thursday evening.

The final was the Amateur Cup with Birchwood United and Fulbeck United meeting for the first occasion in what will be three cup finals with the same two sides in opposition.

Despite the lateness of the season, the two finalists had met just once this campaign, sharing a goalless draw back in November.

Fulbeck lifted the trophy, winning 4-3 after extra time. The two side next meet in the Challenge Cup final on Thursday, April 21.

At the weekend there was another cup tie as Railway Inn and Saxilby Athletic met in the Horace Franklin Cup semi-final, the competition for sides placed in the bottom four at the end of February.

The two teams had met twice in league action this season, with Railway winning 5-2 in February and the two sides sharing a 1-1 draw in March.

Railway were looking to make it to their second cup final in their first season in this league and this they achieved with a comprehensive 5-0 win.

Martin Waplington netted his first hat-trick of the season with James Smith (his eighth goal of the season) and Alan Forwood scoring the other goals.

+ The second of the league’s cup finals takes place at Lincoln Moorland Railway this Thursday at 7.30pm.

The match is the Village Trophy with two sides appearing in this final for the first time in their history as Ruskington Rovers take on The Railway Inn. This means a new name will appear on this trophy which goes back to 1904.

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