Crosfields 0 Barnton 1

BARNTON returned to the top of the Mid Cheshire League and are now short odds favourites for their eighth title in nine years.

Paul Dobson, just 16, latched on to a clearance and fired in a superb left-foot shot inside the bottom left-hand corner on 51 minutes.

Crosfields' discipline deserted them in the final two minutes when they had two men sent-off - a full-back for foul and abusive language to the referee and a centre-back for throwing a punch at Towey.

Middlewich crashed to a 2-1 defeat against Crewe.

A deflected clearance and a mix up presented spirited Crewe with two goals. Mike Brandon steered a header from Craig Stevens' cross home just two minutes after the restart.

Lostock Gralam's Kev Douglas was man-of-the-match and rescued a Division Two point at Ashton Town Reserves in a 1-1 draw.

Witton Reserves stay top of the Second Division despite losing 1-0 at lowly Cheadle Town Res.

Thursday: Two - Witton Res v Warrington Borough; Saturday: One - Barnton v Crosfields, Rylands v Middlewich; Two -- Lostock v Maine Road; Reserves - Middlewich v Pilkington.

Winnington Avenue reached the semi-finals of the Crewe & District League's Arthur Cooke Trophy with a 3-2 win at Bentley. Chris White, Chris Roberts and an own goal were their scorers.

In the league, a goal from Dave Tasker failed to save Avenue Reserves from a 2-1 home defeat by Sandbach Town.

Saturday's fixtures (all 2pm) include: Kershaws v IPC, Sandbach v Avenue Res, Avenue v Bentley.

Winsford St Joseph's are to meet Castrol Tessuti, at Christleton, in the Cheshire FA Sunday Cup semi-final on Sunday, March 6. The other game is between Dock and Warwick, at Poulton Victoria (both 11am).