Baildon TRINITY....2

Rawdon OB..............1

IN the final of the Wharfedale FA Skylark Leisure Junior Cup played on Good Friday evening, Baildon Trinity Athletic Juniors defeated Rawdon Old Boys Juniors 2-1 in a very good game on the ground of Otley Town AFC.

It was the first Junior Cup Final in Wharfedale for 25 years and Skylark Leisure Ltd were very pleased to sponsor the competition. Skylark are involved with the 'On the Ball' Sports Halls in Yeadon, Leeds and Bradford.

The last winners of the Junior Cup were Horsforth Wanderers in the 1973-74 season.

In the first-half Baildon played some good powerful football and took the lead in the 12th minute through a brilliant strike by Ian James. Rawdon seemed a little overawed by the occasion and it was no surprise when Baildon went further ahead in the 33rd minute with another good goal by Chris Cookson.

The second-half was a different story as Rawdon came raging out of the blocks and pulled a goal back in the first minute of the half, with Jonny Crawley getting the all-important strike.

The Baildon defence were put under a lot of pressure for the remainder of the match and they responded well to go on and win the Junior Cup by virtue of a great first-half performance.

Rawdon, though, made a great contribution to a fine match with a tremendous second-half.

What a pity, though, that there were not more spectators to witness this fine game.

The Junior Cup and individual mementoes to the players and match officials were presented by a director of Skylark Leisure Ltd, Shipley, Joe McPhee.

Joe is well-known in Wharfedale football circles as a player with Horsforth St Margaret's, Guiseley AFC and Rawdon Old Boys.

The referee was Fred Green, of Guiseley, and his assistants were Reid Haddow, of Yeadon, and Des Lobley, of Burley-in-Wharfedale. The fourth official was Steve Powell, of Ilkley.

l The Baildon team is pictured right celebrating their success.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.