Football - Cartmel push title hotpots close (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Football - Cartmel push title hotpots close

4:35pm Monday 21st March 2011 in Sport

CARTMEL signalled a return to form when they gave Premier Division title favourites Highgrove a scare in an end-to-end game on Saturday.

A Dean Richard goal gave Cartmel a flying start, but Highgrove hit back through Luke Ogley before half time.

Both teams were playing their best footbal of the season and Dan Broadley put Highgrove 2-1 up, but this only inspired Cartmel to keep pounding away and they earned a 2-2 draw when Matthew Burrows equalised.

Ingleton looked far superior to Galgate in a 2-0 win with goals from William Kelly and Phil Eccleston , though Gareth Hammond was outstanding for the visitors, breaking up attacks almost single-handedly.

Ingleton Reserves won a six-pointer in Division 1 with a 3-0 victory over Boys Club as the bottom two did battle.

Ben O’Hagen struck twice and Will Smith added another in a bit of a stroll as Boys Club now have a mountain to climb to escape the driop.

Promotion favourites Arnside were dealt a blow when beaten 3-2 by Morecambe Royals Reserves, for whom Steve McMinn notched a hat-trick.

Arnside’s reply came through Steve Pearson and James smith in only their second defeat this season.

Grange emerged 4-1 winners over Westgate Wanderers in a rehearsal for the sides’ forthcoming cup final.

Lee Harrison and Mike Purvis put Grange 2-0 up before half time after Westgate missed a penalty.

Westgate tried to move up a gear but it was Grange who went 3-0 ahead thanks to leading scorer Karl Davidson.

Westgate’s breakthrough came with a Danny Simpson goal but Ryan McKenny headed home a fourth for the leaders to open up a 15-point gap at the top.

Ingleton A have resigned from Division 4 and their record has been expunged.

In the cups, Arnside Reserves booked a semi-final place in the Fisher/Howson Remembrance Cup with a 3-1 win over College Reserves with goals from James Barr, Jonathon Matthews and Joe Taylor.

There was disappointment for Swarthmoor SC as they missed a cup final when losing 2-1 after extra time to Marsh United in the Sam Price Memorial Cup.