At last the winter weather relented and allowed a full schedule of fixtures to be played, although there was still some doubt right up to kick off time on Saturday due to overnight frost.
There is great pride at present in the Gainsborough & Distr
ict Football League as for the first time in any ones living memory at least we have two teams in the Semi Finals of the Lincolnshire County FA Junior Cup Competition and it is 98 years since the League won the competition for the only time in its history in 1911/12 when Gainsborough Parish Church were the winners.
AFC Friendship qualified two weeks ago and this week it was Gainsborough Town Canute who finally managed to get their Quarter Final at No 1 Pub Team Grimsby played. A tense game saw Canute go a goal down before they took a grip on the game and scored twice to take the lead. The Grimsby Team however refused to give in and a couple of minutes from full time they equalised to take the game into extra time. No further goals brought the penalty shoot out into play, and a single goalkeeping save from Liam Andrews coupled with five well taken penalties saw the Gainsborough Boys into the Semis. Both AFC Friendship and Gainsborough Town Canute have difficult away ties at AFC Brunmby in Scunthorpe and Waltham Tea Gardens in Grimsby to negotiate this Saturday but everyone in Gainsborough League Football wishes both teams the best of luck and we all hope for an all Gainsborough final.
It was Cup Football this week with 1st round games in the Trinity Challenge Cup and the Nursing Association Cup with the game of the day on paper at least coming in the Trinity Challenge Cup game between AFC Friendship and the unbeaten White Lion from Retford, a very tense game was always on a knife edge but once again the great battling qualities of AFC Friendship just proved to be sufficient in the 2 goals to 1 victory. Both teams created chances and both could claim to have done enough to win the game but it was just AFC Friendship that prevailed.
There were shocks a-plenty in the Nursing Association Cup where East Drayton at Rampton Hospital and Wroot FC at Harworth Colliery defeated higher League opposition . East Drayton played their best football of the season to finish at 2 goals each with Rampton Hospital both at full time and at the end of extra time before a tight penalty shoot out finished 6 pens to 5 in East Drayton's favour.
