PICKERING Town made it through to the fourth round of the FA Vase at the third time of asking -- but their tie against Causeway United was again blighted with controversy.

The initial fixture at Pickering's Recreation Ground was abandoned after Causeway refused to sanction a substitute referee, then the second match saw the Midlanders have two players sent off in a draw.

United went one better this time as they had three players red carded, with the Pikes finally winning the game 2-1 in extra time.

Causeway were reduced to ten men in the last ten minutes and lost two more players in the dying seconds after Pickering were awarded a dubious penalty with the score at 0-0.

One player was given a second yellow card for the foul and the other was sent off for protesting too much.

However, Joe Connor's spot kick hit the post, taking the game into extra-time.

Nevertheless, the Northern Counties East League premier division strugglers went ahead through James Drinkall and, although the eight men managed a shock equaliser on the break, Mark Wood got the winner soon after from Connor's pass.

Pikes boss Steve Brown said: "To be fair the penalty was harsh but, although it was not our best moment to concede against eight men, we generally played well.

"We were much more comfortable than last week when we had the extra men and, apart from the first 15 minutes of the second half when (goalkeeper) Kevin Martin kept us in it, we played well and I was pleased with our application."

Harrogate Town's improving form in the UniBond League continued as they returned from lowly Colwyn Bay with a 1-0 win.

John Reed's men have now gone seven league games undefeated, picking up 19 points out of a possible 21.

The only goal came in the first minute when Paul Sykes headed home a cross by former York City striker James Turley after a quick throw-in had caught the Welshmen off-guard.

Second-bottom Colwyn Bay defied their status with a good performance and saw Carl Furlong come close to levelling when hitting a post after 13 minutes.

Town had their chances too, with Robbie Whellans, back from suspension, seeing a point-blank header saved. He also fired wide when well-placed and in the last minute hit the woodwork.

Selby Town climbed away from the relegation zone in the NCEL premier division after returning to winning ways with a 3-1 victory over Armthorpe Welfare at Flaxley Road.

Selby dominated the early part of the game but were unable to turn their superiority into goals and it was the visitors who scored first through James O'Donnell in the 64th minute.

The Robins were level two minutes later when Alan Jackson netted from close range and they took the lead in the 71st minute when Andy Cygan beat the offside trap and slotted the ball home.

Cygan again raced clear in the 80th minute and was brought down by the goalkeeper for veteran marksman Peter Collier to blast home the resulting penalty to seal the game.

Harrogate Railway were denied the chance to get the points needed to jump out of the relegation zone as their match at Hallam was abandoned due to fog after 57 minutes.

The call-off was not necessarily a bad thing for the Rail as they were trailing 1-0, but though they have plenty of fixtures in hand over their rivals a fixture pile-up might become a worry for boss Paul Marshall.

Tadcaster Albion got some much-needed points in NCEL division one with a fine 2-0 win over Pontefract Collieries.

Russ Lamb headed Albion in front and Kevin Duckworth doubled the lead.

Updated: 11:57 Monday, December 23, 2002