A DRAW at Pickering Town was enough to preserve Penistone Church’s place in the Premier Division whilst Worsbrough Bridge’s hopes of joining them were strengthened with two good results.
Church took the lead through Mackenzie Stocks in the 82nd minute but were pegged back late on.
Results elsewhere guaranteed they now can’t be caught and they will settle for a bottom half finish.
They are four points clear of Bottesford Town who occupy the final relegation spot.
Co-manager Brett Lovell knows his side could have made staying up a lot easier on themselves.
He said: “It wasn’t good for my ticker.
“The lads worked hard.
“There wasn’t an awful lot in the game at all, it was a game of very few chances and unfortunately for us our Achilles heel came back to bite us as we conceded a late equaliser.
“That’s the disappointing thing, we’ve drawn too many games this year, that’s the sixth time we’ve conceded in the ninetieth plus when leading games.
“That equates to twelve lost points that would have kept us in this division without looking over our shoulders in the second to last game.”
Lovell believes Church’s togetherness is what’s kept them up this campaign.
He added: “We said to the boys after the game that the one thing that we have done this season is stick together both as a football club and a squad.
“It would have been quite easy in October or November when we went on that terrible run to have chucked the towel in and fell out of love with it but we didn’t.
“We got back on the horse week after week and ultimately its paid dividends because the lads have done us proud, they were excellent from start to finish, we were defensively organised, we lacked a bit of quality at times but if I’m being honest I think we were marginally the better side.”
Already relegated Wombwell Town suffered a 3-0 defeat at home against Knaresborough Town.
Then on Tuesday they lost 1-0 at home against Eccleshill United.
Division One Worsbrough Bridge remain hopeful of joining Church and Dearne and District in the top flight and secured their play-off spot with four points in the week.
They beat Armthorpe Welfare 2-0 on Wednesday with Keelan Grist netting a second half double, including one from the penalty spot.
Bridge got another point on the board last Saturday as they drew 0-0 at Ilkley Town.
They now sit in third place with four games remaining to play and can still finish second as they are four points behind Wakefield AFC with two games in hand.
Bridge’s Sheffield Senior Cup final date and venue has been decided.
They will take on Worksop Town at Doncaster Rovers’s stadium on Tuesday April 28.
Athersley Rec know just one more point will guarantee their survival.
Rec are six points away from the drop zone and have a better goal difference than Winterton Rangers who have two games left to play.
Rec have two bites at the cherry left to secure their status.
They earned a point last Saturday with a 1-1 draw at Doncaster City.
City, whose goalkeeper Ashton Powney from Bolton-upon-Dearne has just received an England Schoolboys call-up, led at the break.
Rec’s Jack Woodcock struck in the second half to bag a point.
Champions Dearne and District added another three points to their tally with a 1-0 win against Winterton.
Justin Circuit struck the winner just before the break.
They now have an astonishing 104 points with two games left to play.
