Penistone Church and Shaw Lane AFC both remained top of their leagues with victories while also reaching the Sheffield Senior Cup quarter-finals this week.
Church made it 28 Northern Counties East League Division One matches without defeat across more than nine months with a 2-1 home success over Shirebrook Town. They have at least one game in hand on all the other clubs in the top five. Penistone are also in the last eight of the Sheffield Cup after a 3-1 success at Rossington Main on Tuesday.
Manager Ian Richards said: "I believe we have a strong enough squad to compete for promotion and the Sheffield Cup. They will be our two main aims this season and I am really pleased to win in both competitions this week.
"Shirebrook are much-improved and that was their first defeat under their new manager. Then we made six changes for the cup game but the reserves players came in and did a really good job. You couldn't notice a drop in quality.
"Five of us in the dressing room have won the Sheffield Cup before and we want to do it again with Penistone."
Meanwhile, Shaw Lane won 3-0 at home to Maltby Main in Tuesday's Sheffield Cup match after staying top of the Evo-Stik Division One South table with a 5-0 crushing of bottom side Rugby Town on Saturday. The Ducks have now won their last nine matches in all competitions.
Shaw Lane manager Craig Elliott said: "We've carried on our good form this week with two good wins. We were a bit slow to get going against Rugby but then we were really clinical in the second half. I changed most of the team for the Sheffield Cup match and it was good to let other players get 90 minutes.
"I can't complain about nine wins in a row. The lads are playing really well, they are full of confidence and there is a really good atmosphere in the dressing room."
In the bottom-versus-top clash at Shaw Lane on Saturday, lowly Rugby frustrated their hosts until just before the break when Ducks top-scorer Alex Byrne got his 11th of the season with a 25-yard screamer. Spencer Harris then netted twice in five minutes midway through the second half before Gavin Allott bagged a brace from two corners to complete the rout.
They achieved another comfortable home win over Maltby in the cup on Tuesday. Jack Tuohy opened the scoring, Kelvin Lugsden got his first for the club and Jake Beesley completed the rout.
Church had raced into a 3-0 lead at Rossington as Sam Scrivens, Daniel Joynes and Jack Moore netted. Rossington, who are struggling in the same division as Penistone, pulled one back with two minutes remaining.
On Saturday, big centre-back Brett Lovell netted just after half-time against Shirebrook then again on 77 minutes to make it 2-0 before a late reply from the visitors. Tomorrow Church are due to host Selby Town – the last team to beat them in the league back in January – as they begin a run of four successive home matches.
