E. Lythgoe Memorial Trophy final - Castleton FC 2-1 Syke FC

Photo: Barry Hobson

Castleton FC vs Syke FC

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Castleton FC lifted the E. Lythgoe Memorial Trophy after an extra-time Ryan Altimas goal sealed the victory against Syke FC last Saturday.

The game took place at a sunny but windy Castleton Sports Centre, the home of Rochdale Town FC.

And it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable encounter between two very good footballing sides.

Syke began the game the better side, showing some neat passing, with Scott Highton, Wayne Traynor and Kershaw standing out in the first half hour.

But some superb defending from Castleton reduced Syke to a series of long range efforts with Highton and Traynor sharing the majority of them.

Castleton’s only effort of the first half came on 33 minutes after some good work by Connor McEvoy led to Lee Diggle bringing a great save out of Richard Worswick.

After a good first half, the score remained level at 0-0.

But just two minutes after the restart, the deadlock was finally broken by Syke.

Highton received the ball in the left channel and raced into the box before smashing his effort into the top corner.

But the Syke goal spurred Castleton into action and they started to see a lot more of the ball.

The chances started to come with McEvoy and Micheal Kearney threatening on a number of occasions.

And the hard fought equaliser came on the hour, when McEvoy squared neatly for Daniel Oldham to tap the ball into an empty net.

At 1-1, the search for a winner saw the two sides forcing both ‘keepers into making good saves.

The tempo of the game also stepped up, with tackles flying in from all angles, showing how much both sides really wanted the deciding goal.

But at full time, neither side had managed to get the elusive winner, so the game went into extra time.

This period brought much of the same from both sides, as they tried their hardest to push for the winner.

The Castleton breakthrough came just before the end of the first period, when McEvoy played Ryan Altimas through and he calmly rounded the keeper and slotted the ball in the net to put Castleton 2-1 up.

In the second period, Syke threw everything but the kitchen sink at Castleton to get back on equal terms, with both Byron Milne and Highton going mightily close.

But their efforts weren’t quite enough as Castleton held on to win the game and lift the trophy.

There are also two more cup finals taking place this weekend at Castle Sports Centre.

The C.Potts Cup Final between Sun Hotel v Castleton 2nd kicks off at 1pm, and the A.W. Trippier Final between Weavers v Harlequin follows the game at 4pm.