Promotion and relegation battles are hotting up with the Silentnight Premier Division challenge reaching boiling point.

Oxenhope saw their title hopes disappear with two defeats in three days. On Saturday they went down 1-0 at Skipton LMS after a tough battle. Scoring chances were few until LMS produced a break from defence and a solo run followed by a fine cross saw the Skipton side take the lead. Despite late Oxenhope pressure LMS held on to take the points.

On Monday Oxenhope visited Keighley lifts who put the final nail in their coffin of their title hopes with a 2-0 victory.

Lifts frustrated the Oxenhope forwards with their tight defence and had the audacity to take the lead through Tony Cooper. In the second half they extended the lead when a 25-yard free kick struck Keith Spence to make to 2-0 and give Lifts a winning end to the season.

Lifts had also recorded a victory on Saturday when they had the edge over Grassington United, securing a 2-1 victory in an excellent game. Grassington took the lead after 20 minutes and the goal brought the best out of Lifts who began to get on top. They scored the equaliser early in the second half but were forced to pull out all the stops in defence to keep the Dales side at bay.

Player-manager Steve Hall came on in the last 20 minutes and worked a great goal to give Lifts the points, a fitting reward for his efforts throughout the season.

At the other end of the table Cross Hills are looking to avoid relegation and found themselves 2-0 down to early goals from Skipton Bulldogs. Dogs wasted further chances and Hills began to improve after the break but could not break down the Skipton defence.

On Monday the Cross Hills side visited Carleton with only three of the Saturday team still in place. The change showed as they beat Carleton 6-0 with goals from Robert Wilkinson (2), Matthew Latto, Mark Kilner, Steven Gray and Mark Robinson.

Division One leaders Bronte Wanderers faced second placed Intake at Marley in a close match. Bronte finally took the points with a 2-1 victory. The Lancashire club started putting a long ball over the Bronte defence but the ploy was foiled by a strong wind and Bronte soon cleared their lines.

Intake took the lead but to their credit Bronte hit back with James Ley equalising. Bronte started to get on top and created many chances before a good move on the left saw Ian Maude put them ahead. Intake stormed back for the equaliser and looked to have managed it, only to be denied by the crossbar and Bronte sighed with relief as the final whistle went.

Another victory over Bradley on Tuesday evening gave them three more points, and one point from their last three matches will secure the title.

Oxenhope Recreation Reserves had to fight all the way in their last Division Two match of the season against second placed Waddington. The Ribble Valley side made all the early running but could not score and Oxenhope came into the game and missed an early penalty.

Waddington took a 1-0 lead into the break and Mark Carr put Oxenhope level, but the Worth Valley team had their keeper sent off for protesting too much about a Waddington goal which appeared to be offside. A second dismissal left Oxenhope down to nine men but they fought hard and in a storming finish deservedly earned a point from a Neil Barnes penalty. Now they have to wait to see if Waddington can steal the title.

In the Devonshire Carpets Division Three Cup Carleton Reserves beat Cowling Reserves in a high scoring encounter. Two goals close to half time put Cowling in arrears but a second half fight back saw them move from 4-1 down to 4-4.

The South Craven side looked likely winners until a defensive mistake let Carleton off the hook to regain their lead and after they scored a sixth goal their was no way back for the spirited young Cowling team.

Premier Division

P W D L F A Pts

Skipton LMS 19 14 2 3 58 26 44

Skipton B Dogs 16 13 0 3 57 21 39

Relegation

Grindleton 18 5 1 12 44 54 16

Cross Hills 16 4 2 11 32 42 14

Skipton Town 17 2 2 13 15 61 8

Division One

P W D L F A Pts

Bronte Wndrs 17 12 4 1 51 22 40

Cononley Sprts 18 12 1 5 57 36 37

Intake 18 10 3 5 68 29 33

Relegation

Hellifield Sprts 19 4 7 8 32 56 19

Embsay Res 17 3 3 11 23 52 12

Gargrave 18 1 3 14 19 76 6

Division Two

P W D L F A Pts

Oxenhp Rec Rs 20 14 3 3 81 29 45

Waddington 17 12 5 0 56 18 41

Relegation

Ingleton 18 4 6 8 38 53 18

Silsden Ath 18 3 6 9 30 49 15

Grindleton Res 17 4 4 9 46 67 15

Skiptn B Dgs R 16 3 2 11 27 58 11

Bradley Res 17 2 2 13 25 66 8

Division Three

P W D L F A Pts

McBrides 18 12 1 5 67 48 37

Intake Res 17 11 1 5 60 46 34