Pickering Town missed out on their chance of a cup final last night after the woodwork contrived to help to send Buxton through.

The Northern Counties East League President's Cup semi-final replay ended 2-1 to the Bucks but only after the Pikes twice hit the bar and Alex Willgrass set up a tense final few minutes with his late strike.

Player-manager Alex Mathie said: "I was actually quite pleased with it. I was disappointed with the result but pleased with the performance.

"The boys responded really well on a soggy pitch and we were a bit unfortunate. It could have gone either way as we hit the bar a couple of times but it was good to see them back to what they have been missing in the last couple of weeks."

A tight first half remained goal-less until Shaun Doxey and Jon Frogatt put the home side 2-0 up in the second, Willgrass pulling one back late on.

Goole suffered a gut-wrenching exit from the NCEL League Cup quarter-finals after going out to Hallam on penalties.

The replay had ended 4-4 after extra time, following on from the initial 2-2 draw at Hallam two weeks ago.

But Hallam had clearly planned for a repeat display and swept home 4-1 on penalties to book a place in the semi-finals at Harrogate Railway next month.

Updated: 10:11 Thursday, March 31, 2005