SOCCER: St Mary's College Old Boys have earned themselves a second round Birtwistle Cup game against holders Netlon after they saw off Alexandra Hotel's challenge.

The Saints won the long-awaited game 4-1 on a day when the weather at long last smiled kindly on the Blackburn and District Football Combination.

All outstanding first round cup games were completed and quite a number of second round ties were also settled.

Griffin Celtic cruised through to the semi-finals with an emphatic 9-3 victory over Crown Wallcoverings, Ewood Amateurs also claimed a semi-final place defeating Whitehall Top Con 4-0 with goals from Bush, Shaw and Marshall. Also through to the semi-final are Crown Berger with a narrow 2-1 win over Old Toll Bar.

In the Eddleston Cup there were three outstanding first round games played, Witton Albion, despite taking the lead against Clarence, who have an excellent record in this competition, lost the game 2-1. One of last year's finalists Langho, playing away to St Matthew's, went through to the second round with a 3-0 win. Also gaining a second round place were Blackburn YMCA with a single goal win over Rishton Res in a second round game.

Railway Hotel earned themselves a semi-final place, but the game was not without its scary moments for the Hotel side, having gone into a three-goal lead their task seemed easy, but Blackburn United came back at them scoring two late goals and missing some easy chances. United could well have stolen the game, the final score was 3-2 to Railway. Just two first round games were played in the Cotton Cup - Anchor and New Gardeners, the leading sides in the Third Division, met each other with the game ending all square at 1-1 after extra time.

Blackburn Olympic met Alexandra Hotel Reserves in the other game, and extra time was needed to settle who went into the second round, Alexandra finally winning 5-3.

In the first round of the Livesey Cup close Shaws of Darwen beat rivals Railway Hotel Darwen with a clincher just 90 seconds from the end of extra time.

Clubs are reminded that the mid-season meeting will be held at Longshaw Club on Tuesday, March 2 at 7.30pm. A supplementary fixtures list, covering all rearranged games will be given out at this meeting.

Results - Birtwistle Cup round one: St Mary's COB 4, Alexandra Hotel 1. Round Two: Old Toll Bar 1, Crown Berger 2; Griffin Celtic 9, Crown Wallcoverings 3; Ewood Amateurs 4, Whitehall Top Con 0.

Eddleston Cup round one: Witton Albion 1, Clarence 2; Blackburn YMCA 1, Rishton Res 0; St Matthew's 0, Langho 3. Round Two: Railway Hotel 3, Blackburn Utd 2.

Cotton Cup round one: Anchor Hotel 1, New Gardeners 1 (aet); Blackburn Olympic 3, Alexandra Hotel Res 5 (aet).

Livesey Cup round one: Shaws of Darwen 1, Railway Hotel (Darwen) 0; Grimshaw Park 4, Pleasington C 1. Round Two: Printers 5, Rishton C 1.

Fixtures for Saturday - Premier Division: Alexandra Hotel v Old Toll Bar (P10); Crown Berger v Rishton; Griffin Celtic v St Mary's College OB (P11); Netlon v Manxman (P12); West End CYC v Crown Wall (WP); Whitehall Top Con v Ewood Amateurs (P8). Division Two: Blackburn YMCA v Bangor Old Boys; Ivy Hotel v Clarence (P1); Blackburn United v Centurions (P3); Rishton Res v St Matthew's; Witton Albion v Langho.

Division Three: Alex Hotel Res v Blackburn Olympic (P4); Anchor Hotel v Worth Ave (P4); Cupal v AThletico Mellor (P6); Darwen Subs v Blackburn YMCA Res (P2); Pleasington Res v New Gardeners (Pleckgate Two).

Division Four: Blackburn Olympic Res v Printers (Pleckgate One); Brinscall v Crown Berger Res; Centurions B v Grimshaw Park; Railway Hotel Darwen v Pleasington C (P7); St Matthew's Res v Rishton C (P9).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.