Woodkirk lose out in local derby Woodkirk were drawn against Churwell Lions' A team in the local derby cup match played in winding conditions. Churwell were quickly into their stride putting the Woodkirk defence under immense pressure. Watson and Stead and the back stood firm. The Woodkirk midfield missed challenge after challenge and made few forays into the Churwell half. Against all the play Woodkirk opened the scoring as Gill latched onto a poor back pass to the the Churwell keeper from the left back after good pressure from Williams. Gill took one touch and then calmly slid the ball past the despairing dive from the keeper, the ball just inside the post. More strong pressure from Churwell straight from the kick-off. A throw-in from level with the 18-yard line ended in the net without anybody else touching it. A lucky escape for Woodkirk as this was disallowed. The shots rained in on the Valley goal, all just clearing the cross bar. Eventually the pressure became too much and Churwell got their deserved equaliser, 1-1 at half time. Woodkirk came out stronger in the second half, now with the wind at their back. Midfielders now won more tackles than in the first half as the belief grew. Good breaks down the left wing saw Davies and Gill link well on a couple of occasions but to no avail. Churwell took the lead midway through the half as the defenders missed a couple of tackles and left a free strike at goal. Churwell almost extended their lead five minutes later as a whipped in corner hit the crossbar directly but rebounded out of the box and was cleared. A tactical change by the Woodkirk Manager saw Stead switch from centre back to centre forward to inject same pace. This almost paid dividends immediately as he ended up one-on one with the Churwell keeper. The keeper spread himself well and forced Stead to put his shot wide. With time running out Valley went to a 3-3-4 formation but there was too little time left to get the draw. Churwell proceed to the next round. The Woodkirk boys can now concentrate on progressing in the league. | 
