PAUL Ryder lifted the Slater Marchant Cup for Skipton LMS after their 2-1 win over Settle United at Barnoldswick United's Victory Park head-quarters, but they had to wait until the last minute of normal time to complete a successful comeback

Settle made most of the early running in a game where there was never much to choose between the sides, the pace of right wing Adam Whaites, who plays on the flank for North Ribblesdale RFC, setting up Mark McGoldrick for a simple tap-in. Claims that the ball ran dead before Whaites were overruled by referee McEvoy, who did a fine job in handling a good natured contest, but failure to play to the whistle was a crucial flaw on the part of LMS.

Whaites' pace was always a threat to LMS, who despite some industrious work from John Allen in midfield and occasional touches of skill and strength from Steve Carling, struggled to find either a cutting edge or any creative cohesion.

Defences generally held the upper hand and having fallen behind to McGoldrick's strike, LMS simply plugged away without really looking as though they would get back on terms.

That they eventually managed to achieve parity owed everything to the determination of striker Robert Kaminski, who just got to the ball ahead of advancing Settle goal-keeper Jacub Lynerup and managed to lift it into an unguarded net.

LMS were then indebted to their own goal-keeper William Freakes in helping to keep out a scorching 30-yard drive from David Worthington. Freakes managed to get a finger-tip to a fierce, rising shot from the Settle man, although whether his involvement was responsible for the ball hitting the bar and flying over the goal was hard to establish so powerfully struck was the shot.

Much clearer was the winning goal from Darren Phillip with extra time imminent. Phillip had badly miscued a strike from close range a few minutes earlier, but when substitute Iain Tyrer supplied the free-kick from 30 yards out and Phillip placed a perfect header beyond the goal-keeper for the crucial goal of the game.

"There was never anything to chose between the sides, but we managed to get the break that gave us the win," said a modest LMS manager Graham Smith afterwards, presumably relieved that a far from vintage performance had been enough to collect the district's premier soccer trophy.

Full-back Jimmy Potts collected the man of the match award for a solid defensive display for LMS, but he had team-mate John Allen as a rival for the honour, while Whaites and defender Robbie Preston both shone for the Settle side.

In the light of recent events in another final, however, arguably the most satisfying aspect of the game was the way in which it was contested and refereed on an excellently-prepared surface.

Picture code 19/3/7.