Goals from Alfie Wilkinson and George Doyle within the first 10 minutes moves The Weavers back up to 2nd with a deserved victory at the Skye Direct Stadium.

On a bitterly cold evening in HD7, The Weavers brought a spark to proceedings as soon as the referee blew for kick off.

Within seconds, the home side instantly won a corner, which resulted in the opener as Alfie Wilkinson latched onto a knockdown from 6 yards out to get his 12th league goal of the season.

Desperate to revitalise their season, Golcar didn’t stop pushing despite their early goal. The lead was doubled when a great cross from Oliver Russon on the right was guided into the net by George Doyle for his 16th league goal of the season, which left The Pikes shellshocked.

Desperate to find a way back into the game, the visitors nearly found a way back in within the first 15 minutes. A perfectly weighted ball over the top of the defence by Jamie Thornton found Pickering’s top scorer Joe Wood, his low effort beat Harry Stead, but it went past the far post, which brought a huge sigh of relief to The Village faithful behind the goal.

Pickering continued to have the better of the chances for the remainder of the half with their skipper Connor Avison having his bullet header from a set piece go just over the bar. Whilst a couple of minutes later, Kiero Lawrence did a brave block on an acrobatic effort, one of the many things Lawrence did well in a brilliant performance by our number 5.

What followed was a scrappy second half with The Weavers desperate for a win whilst The Pikes were desperate to get a result to make their long trip on a Tuesday night worth it.

The final half an hour should have been an uncomfortable one for the hosts as a cross from the left found Pickering’s number 9 George brown unmarked at the far post from point blank range, but Harry Stead made an incredible save to deny the visitors a route back into the game.

Tempers flared when Alfie Wilkinson did brilliantly to keep the ball in near the corner flag of our final third, only to be hacked down by Jamie Thornton in a viscous tackle that gave the referee no choice but to give him his marching orders.

That red card also brought an end to Pickering’s chances of salvaging something from the game and in the final stages of the game, Golcar should have had a third and Wilkinson should have finished the game with a brace as he had multiple efforts from point blank range, that somehow didn’t hit the back of the net.

Our first home victory of 2025 moves us back up to 2nd, with the Connor brothers hoping that their side can spark a good run of form by getting 3 points away at Eccleshill United at the weekend

Golcar: Stead, North, Clee, Lawrence, Killock, Russon, Naidole (Calvert, 81), Clegg, Hall, Doyle (Kilbourne, 61), Wilkinson
Scorers: Wilkinson (2), Doyle (6)
Attendance: 189