Pickering Town landed their first silverware in seven years last night thanks to super-sub Stefan Zoll's fine goal less than 20 minutes from the end of a gripping final.

The strike - he cut inside, beat two men and lashed the ball home - gave Pickering a 1-1 draw on the night at home to derby rivals Bridlington Town, and a 3-3 draw on aggregate over the two legs.

But in this Northern Counties East League Wilkinson Sword Trophy competition, the away goals rule counts so Phil O'Reilly's brace in the 2-2 draw at Brid proved crucial for Jimmy Reid's men.

"It was the icing on the cake," said Reid, whose team gained promotion to the NCEL premier division at the weekend.

"Me and Browny (assistant manager Steve Brown) are delighted. It's been a long hard season but our success has come from an accumulation of two years' work coming together.

"There was a very good gate as well which makes it all the better."

The Pikes had fallen behind after only six minutes and despite a lot of pressure, and the fact Brid had a man sent off early in the second half for two yellow cards, they could not find an equaliser until Zoll - who also plays for Harrogate Town - came on.

The visitors were reduced to nine men after the equaliser when another player was red carded for violent conduct.

"I don't think there was ever a doubt that we were going to get at least a draw," said Reid.

"They never got out of their half for 15 or 20 minutes and we had a lot of near things."

Pickering continue their division one championship bid tomorrow when they travel to Gedling Town for their penultimate match of the campaign.

Title rivals Borrowash Victoria, who are two points behind the Pikes with three games in hand, can go top tonight with victory at Mickleover Sports, who are the only other team with a mathematical chance of promotion.

In the NCEL premier division, Selby Town lost by the only goal of the game at Glapwell, though the match was full of controversy.

Selby argued the goal, on 36 minutes, should have been ruled out for offside, while in the dying seconds, after the hosts had been reduced to ten men, Peter Collier thought he had equalised when his free-kick hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down.

However, the linesman - who had been plucked from the Glapwell ranks after the original linesman had to take over in the middle from the injured referee - ruled the ball had not crossed the line.

Harrogate Town ended a run of three successive UniBond League division one defeats with a 2-1 win over Matlock Town at Wetherby Road.

The visitors went ahead just before the half-hour mark through Steve Taylor but ten minutes later striker Kevin Severn fired home from the edge of the area to level matters.

Harrogate's top scorer, Craig Elliott, got the winner with just over ten minutes remaining, superbly lobbing the 'keeper from outside the box.

Nestl Rowntree will bid to up the pressure on West Yorkshire League leaders Carlton Athletic tonight by beating Mount St Mary's at Mille Crux (kick off 6.15pm).

Jim Collis's men are four points behind Carlton with five games to play, one in hand on their rivals.

Neil Smallwood is working so Mark Howlett comes in in goal, while former York City right-back Andy McMillan, who made his debut last midweek, is also unavailable as he will be attending old City team-mate Wayne Hall's testimonial dinner at York Racecourse.

Nestl Rowntree: from Howlett, Watkinson, Hodson, Dewhirst, Cox, Wain, Haddon, Cowl, Simpson, Ellis, Ward, Dickinson, Kehoe, Whalen. Meet 5.30, ko 6.15.

Updated: 12:26 Wednesday, May 02, 2001