Sporting Armley sealed their place in the semi-finals of the Mark Hawkins Trophy with a hard fought 4-3 victory away to Fairbank.
Sporting struggled in the first few minutes, as their late arrival meant they had no time to warm up or organise before the kick off. Eventually they began to get a foothold on the game and took the lead with a goal from Aaron Dix.
With Armley pushed up for a corner kick, the ball was headed clear by Fairbank but quickly played back into the feet of Danny Goulden who worked an opening down the right. He crossed low into the 6 yard box where Dix arrived to fire home his 5th goal of the season.
Any ideas that this was going to be a walk in the park for Armley were quickly thrown away as Fairbank equalised within 5 minutes, beating the offside trap to race through on goal and slot the ball past Spencer from an acute angle.
Fairbank enjoyed a prolonged spell of pressure, coming close with numerous corners but couldn't find the net. Dennis Spencer in the Armley goal did extremely well to parry a fierce shot onto the crossbar during this spell where Armley were on the back foot.
Sporting weathered the storm and took the lead again with a fantastic strike from Iain McBurney. The striker was presented with just a half chance when Gareth Knight won a header on the edge of the Fairbank penalty area, but it was all he needed as he fired a first time shot into the top right corner.
It was McBurney's 3rd goal in 4 games since returning to the squad, and he was looking extremely lively in an attacking midfield position alongside Knight. He was also unlucky not to score a second with an acrobatic overhead kick that the keeper somehow managed to parry aside for a corner kick.
In the second half Danny Goulden got himself on the scoresheet for the 9th successive game with a well taken volley set up by Gareth Knight. Knight was all over the pitch, and found himself on the ball in his own penalty area before launching a long ball upfield. It bounced once over the line of defenders, and Goulden arrived to volley home his 29th goal of the season.
Armley had the comfort of a 2 goal lead, but tempers started to fray when the Fairbank captain punched James in the face when the referee wasn't looking. The striker had to go off, replaced by Andy Sanderson, but no punishment was dished out by the referee.
Fairbank reduced Armley's lead to 1 goal when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. The resulting shot was poor but somehow Spencer lost track of it as players ran in his line of vision and it crept in. The Armley keeper was furious with himself for allowing the goal to go in, but made up for it later on with a fantastic save at the feet of their big striker to deny them another equaliser.
Armley were still looking strong on the attack, and Aaron Dix came close to scoring the goal of the season with a long range drive that the keeper only just managed to tip over for a corner. Eventually the 4th goal arrived when Danny Goulden once again worked an opening on the right wing, his cross flicked off the head of a defender an onto Anthony Morkos who nodded in from 5 yards.
Armley's 2 goal lead was reduced to 1 again when Fairbank's striker barged his way through to score, but it was too little to late. Sporting eventually finishing the stronger team, with Howe's cross/shot tipped onto the cross bar the last chance of note.
Sporting will face Wellington FC in the semi-final on Wednesday night at Liversedge, after their opponents beat Marsh on penalties after their game finished 3-3 AET.
