Old Malton 4, Dringhouses 2

FOR the third time in four weeks, Old Malton faced Dringhouses and were hoping to avenge the previous cup defeats. The home side welcomed back Darryl Craggs and Darren Rushworth to give some added bite. Dringhouses started the game strongly and soon had Old Malton pinned back with the inevitable goal coming in the fourth minute to put the visitors ahead.

A tactical change followed with Craggs moving to right back and the marauding Dringhouses' left winger had a quiet game from then on. Old Malton slowly regained their composure and they began to look more like the championship team of last year. Michael Henderson tracked along the visitors' defence, first to one side then the other, causing problems all the time. His reward came in the 36th minute with a moment that was vintage Henderson. He won the ball on the left wing and held off two challenges to square the ball to Phillip Hill who makes no mistakes in front of goal.

With the score at 1-1, Old Malton seemed to relax, but five minutes later, a Neil Wilford free kick was directed perfectly for Steve Boyd to power his header into the top corner. Old Malton started the second half with new conviction. Hill planted a beautiful cross on to Boyd's head, who then guided in his deserved second of the game.

Attacking midfielder Darren Walker was then brought on and within seconds of his appearance he broke through on the right flank and crossed for Hill to shoot just over the bar. Just a few minutes later the blip occurred and the Old Malton defence allowed Dringhouses to run through and score.

Unlike previous weeks, though, this seemed to spur on Old Malton and a rejuvenated Henderson narrowly missed a chance to score from a close range chip. In the 75th minute, Rushworth completed the scoring with a delightful header leaving the Dringhouses goalkeeper to watch the ball loop into his goal.

The last ten minutes saw Lee Welburn, normally a defender, introduced, and his presence in midfield tidied up the complete performance from Old Malton. Darryl Craggs and Marcus Lee had outstanding performances, with goalkeeper Aaron McDermid again providing a safe pair of hands in goal.

Old Malton reserves 2,

St John's reserves 1

OLD Malton moved into the last eight of the Reserve FA Cup with a last gasp winner against a very competent and lively St John's side. Despite a number of chances for Old Malton, it was 0-0 at the break. The second half followed a similar pattern as both defences were looking solid, and a single goal always looked like winning the game. The breakthrough finally came on 77 minutes when a shot by Towse was partially saved by the keeper, only for Boyes to tap into an empty net from on the line. The equaliser, which looked like taking the game into extra time, came with only seven minutes remaining, when a St John's forward prodded home from six yards out. This set up a grandstand finish as St John's piled forward looking to win in normal time, only for Marwood to break their hearts with a screamer on 87 minutes.

Updated: 09:50 Thursday, November 22, 2001