The campaign has produced a mixed bag of emotions for five of the leading semi-professional sides in the area but the overall highlight must be Guiseley's visit to Luton Town in the FA Cup last November.

The UniBond Division One outfit may trail Premier Division near neighbours Bradford Park Avenue in terms of league standing in the Pyramid system but they captured the limelight in the world's oldest and most famous knockout competition.

While Avenue were dumped out by lower league opponents in the qualifying stages, Guiseley marched into the first-round proper and a meeting with Nationwide Second Division outfit Luton at Kenilworth Road.

Unsurprisingly they were sent spinning out after a 4-0 defeat but their exploits did earn them £46,000 in prize-money to add to their 50 per cent of the gate money from all of their six ties.

Neil Parsley's men, however, under-achieved in the league and failed to threaten the play-off places which they had done the previous season.

In fact they finished three places behind local rivals Farsley Celtic, who in turn had flirted with relegation in the preceding campaign.

While The Celts finished in 11th place - the spot that Guiseley settled in after pushing for the play- offs in 2001-02 - it was a vast improvement on their 17th place the year before.

They also enjoyed some cup success though the defeat at the hands of great rivals Harrogate Town in the West Riding County Cup final was a huge disappointment.

They were beaten 3-1 after extra-time by the UniBond Premier Division side in a repeat of last year's final.

The three local clubs in the Northern Counties East Premier Division made a real fight of who would finish the top Bradford side, with Thackley edging it over Eccleshill United and Liversedge.

The fact the three clubs within a six or seven mile radius all finished in the top half of the table is testament to the immense depth of talent in the area. Clubs such as Buxton, Brigg Town and title-winners Bridlington Town do not face the same competition in their own catchment areas for players.

Thackley claimed sixth place, an improvement on the previous two consecutive eighth-placed finishes. They were filled with optimism by that and not just swelled with local pride.

The fact that they were only ten points off second place displeased the management though. Thackley had lost ten games - the same as runners-up Brigg - but Andy Taylor and his think-tank of coaches know they should have turned some of their 11 draws, the joint highest in the division, into maximum three-pointers to fulfil their real potential.

Former Leeds United centre back Tony Brown took his first steps into management when he agreed to take the Eccleshill United job and along with assistant Dave Morgan he can be pleased with the inaugural season.

The eighth place they steered United into qualifies the club for the next season's President's Cup. A blip in the team's form during the last two months of the campaign, especially in derby games, prevented them challenging Thackley as the leading Bradford club.

Liversedge did not make the cut for the President's Cup but they were just one point and one place adrift of Eccleshill.

Former Farsley Celtic manager Eugene Lacy was recruited to lead the club forward after quitting Throstle Nest, where he was reserve team boss, at the start of the season.

When he and assistant Kim Farrand came in to replace Wayne Bruce just after the turn of the year Sedge's prospects picked up. Bruce relinquished the manager's role saying he had taken the club as far as he could but he remains on the backroom staff.

Lacy says he wants to be judged on the team's performance over a full season and has thrown the gauntlet down to his rival bosses for forthcoming campaign.

It should prove to be a titanic struggle as to who comes out on top next term with Lacy in charge, Brown having learned the ropes and Taylor's Thackley in the final term of his initial four-year plan.