Thorne Colliery have Harworth firmly in their sights as they target a best-ever third place finish in the Central Midlands League Northern Division.
Colliery had booked their place in the League Cup final less than 72 hours earlier, Ross Ebbage scoring the only goal of the game in their 1-0 win over Southern Division title challengers Clifton All Whites at Harworth.
And they rounded off a very productive few days work by beating Sherwood Colliery 2-1 on Saturday to move to within a point of Harworth with four games in hand on their Doncaster rivals.
Brett Thomas and Adam Atkinson shared Thorne’s goals to complete a third straight league win and also maintain Colliery’s feint hopes of still finishing runners up to runaway leaders AFC Mansfield.
Harworth didn’t do themselves any favours in the race for third, having to settle for a point from a 1-1 draw at Ollerton Town.
Tom Walker gave Harworth the lead but his goal was cancelled out by Callum Atkinson.
Long-time leaders AFC Mansfield, who need a maximum of two points from their two remaining games, have one hand on the title following their high-scoring 8-3 win at Bentley Colliery.
Colliery took the lead in their penultimate game of the season through striker Lee Drobac, but the visitors hit back to lead 2-1 at the break.
They added another six goals in the second half with Colliery having to settle for another couple by Drobac in a game which featured three hat tricks.
Brodsworth Welfare had to thank leading scorer Shane Carver, who claimed his tenth goal of of the season, for their 1-1 draw at Kinsley Boys.
Draw specialists Askern again shared the spoils after drawing 2-2 against Glapwell in a game they were hopeful of winning.
But the third-bottom club would no doubt have settled for a point when finding themselves 2-0 down after 30 minutes.
Paul Curtis’s side rallied after the break with goals by Michael Attard and Charlie McGough helping to salvage a result.
They remain in real danger of finishing in the bottom two however, as a result of Easington’s surprise 1-0 win at Newark Town who failed to convert two penalties.