ORLETON Colts Reserves stumbled at the final hurdle to miss out on promotion from Division Three of the Hereford Times Herefordshire League.

A 2-1 home defeat to Leominster Town Reserves in their last fixture means they will finish either fourth or fifth in the table.

They needed nothing less than victory to have an outside chance of a promotion place and though they started well with a Liam Watton goal, Leominster were level by the break and went on to secure all three points in the second half.

Player-manager Chris Albert lamented: âWe lost Kieron Powys with an eye injury and it appeared to upset our rhythm. It also seemed Leominster wanted it more than us in the second half and it was a disappointing way to finish the league season.â Orleton Colts drew the curtain on their Premier Division programme by battling out a 0-0 mid-table deadlock at Westfields Reserves while Wooffertonâs hopes of reaching the final of the HJ Handley Cup ended with a 1-0 semi-final defeat at home to Division One table-toppers Bromyard.

A controversial first-half penalty decided the issue and Woofferton player-secretary Dave Thomas was far from happy. He said: âTheir striker was running side by side with Nathan Scott and went to ground. I saw nothing from 10 yards away, the linesman pointed for a corner but the referee, who was a distance back, amazingly saw a tug of a shirt.â James Robertson pulled off a couple of good saves for Woofferton, but the Blues also saw several chances go to waste.

On Sunday Orleton won through to the final of the Newcastle Cup, where they will meet Presteigne Reserves on Wednesday, April 26.

Both semi-finals were close encounters settled by penalty shoot-outs. Orleton beat Newcastle 5-3 on spot-kicks after a 2-2 draw, while Presteigne Reserves prevailed 4-3 over Bishopâs Castle after another 2-2 draw.

Newcastle twice came from behind against Orleton, with Craig Morris and substitute Ben Harvey, back after a long injury lay-off, cancelling out goals from Chris Breakwell and Jabez Smith.

It means that there will be a new name on the cup, with neither Orleton nor Presteigne having won it before.

In the Mercian League, Church Stretton were beaten 2-0 at home by champions elect Telford Juniors while leading scorer Ollie Smith inspired Division One Clee Hill United to a 4-2 verdict at Donnington Community Sports and Social.

Smith bagged a hat-trick to make it eight goals in the last three games, with Liam Whitbread adding the other as in-form Clee Hill romped to a fifth win on the bounce.