UPTON AA make the short trip to neighbours and fellow Division One strugglers Blacon Youth Club on Saturday (2pm) – on the back of what boss Dave Wright hopes was a season-reviving win.

Wright’s boys overcame the odds to book their place in the second round of the Pyke Cup with a thrilling 4-3 victory at Willaston on Saturday.

Given it followed a morale-sapping eight- game winless run, the result in itself was impressive. But what made the success remarkable was that Upton played nearly all of the match with nine men after they had two players sent-off following an early fracas.

The visitors were there for the taking but, showing the spirit Wright has been calling for, they raced into a 3-1 lead thanks to a Derek Rogers 25-yarder, a debut goal from the excellent Pat Walsh and top-scorer Simon Andrews’ ninth of the season.

But Willaston fought back to level the contest and at this point, there seemed only one winner. Upton were not to denied, though, and Tom Fellows popped up with the clincher two minutes from time.

Wright is sweating on the fitness of Andrews, Andrew Lloyd, John Paul Kane, Stuart Denham and Paul Broster for the derby with winless Blacon, who welcome Niall Peaker and Alan Richardson back into what should be a full-strength squad.

The Cairns Crescent outfit crashed out of the Pyke Cup on Saturday as they went down 4-0 at home to West Kirby.

Blacon boss Peter Hughes – who is hopeful of completing a double signing in time for the visit of Upton – could take positives from the way his side performed, though, and had lively young striker Damian Rowley took one of the two chances that came his way early into the first-round tie, a major shock could have been on the cards.

Christleton cruised through to the second round with a stunning 5-1 win at Marine Reserves. Danny Davies, Danny Owen, Paul Allen, Steve Cunningham and Lee Butterworth shared the strikes for the Little Heath men, who return to league action at home to Heswall on Saturday (2pm).

Helsby, whose Pyke Cup first-round clash at Ellesmere Port was rained-off on Saturday, travel to Runcorn Town for a big Cheshire Amateur Cup showdown (3pm).