Cup competitions dominated the action for Lancashire and Cheshire AFL clubs on a day again hit by horrible weather.

In the Stockport Senior Cup, High Lane moved into round two after beating Mellor 4-2 but it was the end of the cup trail for Hillgate as they lost out 4-1 at Stockport Georgians.

There was plenty of Rhodes Cup action and goals as South Manchester cruised through 7-1 against AFC Stockport with strikes from Azuka Otutu (three), Badou Drameh (two) and a Jay Rushton penalty.

There were big wins also for Didsbury by 6-1 over Hargreaves Bury and Parrs Wood Celtic with a fine 7-4 victory at Moston United.

It needed a 4-3 penalty shoot-out success for Hooley Bridge Celtic at Trafford United after a 2-2 deadlock and Hollingworth eased to a 4-1 win over Moston Brook.

Chorltonians scored the only goal of a tight contest at Stoconians with Aaron Minshall netting.

Deans FC are also going well in their division and they maintained this with a 5-2 win at Swinton and Bedians marched into the next round with a 7-3 win at Manchester Poloinia and Dom Doyle were also good value for a 5-0 win over Spurley Hey.

Just one game in the Wray Cup saw Chorltonians seconds keep a clean sheet in an efficient 3-0 win over Hooley Bridge Celtic seconds with goals from Aaron Rodger, Tom Gannon and Paul Wong.

In the Whitehead Cup, Abacus Media seconds won a penalty shoot-out by 3-0 over Spurley Hey seconds after a 2-2 deadlock and a local derby clash saw Stoconians seconds cruise to a 5-1 win at Signol thirds.

Salford Vics seconds also made it through with an exciting 3-2 win at Trafford United seconds.

The first goal for Vics came on 44 minutes through James Grantham and Rob Payne beat the offside trap to double the lead before Curtis Slater reduced the arrears on 65 minutes.

Vics looked home and dry when Payne bagged his seconds but United kept the game open until the end after Slater grabbed his second.

The other game in the competition had Milton thirds beating Moston Brook thirds by 6-2.

In the Hellawell Shield, Moston Brook fourths were the hotshots as they walloped Whalley Range seconds 10-1 and Stoconians fourths were equally emphatic with a big 8-3 win at Chorltonians Athletic, whose consolations came from Frank Verrigotta, Anthony Haddock and Fin Nixon.

Chorltonians Albion fared better as they won 6-4 at Didsbury seconds with strikes from Pete Bjorkstrand (three), Paul Mears, Ryan Randles and Dan Gray taking them through.

Premier division action saw Moorside Rangers increase their lead at the top to seven points with a comfortable 6-1 win over Old Ashtonians and Rochdalians stayed in touch in third place with a 3-0 victory over Signol Athletic.

On the pitch Ashtonians shocked Rangers by scoring the only goal of the first half.

But they equalised straight from the kick-off and slipped through the gears with Sixsmith bagging four goals and Heard with a curling free kick, Brown completing the win before the heavy rain set in.

Waterloo took over at the top of division one with a 3-0 win at Milton as Old Stretfordians were held to a 1-1 draw by an excellent young Bury Ams.

Bury took the lead before the break with a fine strike from Josh Sharpe and Strets had to wait until the 85th minute before getting a share of the spoils with an equaliser from Raul Gordon.

Just one league game in division two with South Manchester beating Newton seconds 3-0 with goals from Sam Russell, Chris Waugh and Tom Cryne.

It was also down to one game in division three as Newton Heath seconds won 6-1 at Rochdalians seconds.

In division A the only game saw Signol Athletic seconds pull off a fine 3-0 win over Moorside Rangers seconds to keep up their 100 per cent record and extend their lead to six points.

The game played in division B saw leaders High Lane seconds move five points clear of the pack with a comfortable 6-2 win at Dukinfield Athletic.

Radclyffe FC kept up their 100 per cent record in division C with a 4-1 win at Manchester Rovers to overtake Deans at the top of the table.

Final league action in division D had Old Strets thirds winning 4-1 hosting Trafford United thirds in an excellent game with Tom Delaney (two), Danny Vaughan and Paul Hulme  on target for Strets with Rob Curran bagging the United consolation.