1 FEB – LEAGUE CUP – Statham treble snatches a semi final date for Sixers – The line-up for the League Cup semi-finals was completed by CBC Premier Wadsley Bridge Sixers after a hat-trick by centre half Josh Statham (right) helped them to a 6-1 victory over Division 1 Crookes on the all-weather pitch at Hillsborough College. They will now face a local derby in the semi-final against old foes Stannington Village in March.

In a fast and furious start Crookes veteran Pete Smith took advantage of a goalkeeping error to give Crookes a shock lead on 16 minutes, but Sixers equalised when Danny Barnsley finished off a good move. Five minutes later Sixers snatched the lead when Statham showed he was the one when he turned home a corner. Before Crookes could regroup George Rudd showed he’s no expendable by adding another to make it 3-1 at half-time.

Crookes had some early pressure in the second half, but before they could turn it up Statham got his second by heading home from a corner to effectively make Sixers progress into the semi-finals safe. It was no surprise that Ethan Wilkinson added a fifth when he took advantage of chaos in the box to turn home Ben Southwell’s cross and the blitz of goals wasn’t over as Crookes couldn’t stop any further collateral damage when Statham showed he was no crank by completing his hat-trick with a brilliant volley from 40 yards for a goal of the season contender.

1 FEB – CBC PREMIER – Southey move out of the bottom 3 for now – The only CBC Premier game to survive the weather saw Southey Social move out of the bottom three with a point from a 1-1 home draw with Woodman, but Southey have played many more games than the two teams directly below them so will not be able to relax just yet.

It was Southey that started the quickest, but it was Woodman that took the lead when a quick break ended with Otis Pyle scoring into the bottom corner. The Woodman keeper was forced to make several good saves after that  and the nearest Southey got to an equaliser in the first half was a Jay Slocombe header that came back off a post.

Southey finally beat the keeper soon after the break when a Jack Dickens corner was headed home by Kieran Hopkinson. After that more Southey pressure saw new signing Luke Bennet head over when well placed and Carlton Carty denied by the keeper’s feet when through one-on-one. The Woodman keeper had to make mpore crucial saves after that to earn his side just their third point of the season.

All the other CBC Premier games were postponed after heavy rain over the previous few days.

1 FEB - DIVISION 1 – All games postponed – The weather was the only winner in Division 1 with all games postponed.