Golcar United went down fighting in the final of the NCEL League Cup, leaving joint boss Gav Connor proud of the players.

The Weavers lost 2-1 to promoted Winterton Rangers, one of the stand-out teams in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division this season.

In a match played at Doncaster Rovers’ Eco-Power Stadium, Luke Anderson gave Winterton the lead in the 56th minute and Kayle Price levelled for Golcar two minutes later with his landmark 30th goal of the season.

Defender Leon Henry was sent off for his second bookable offence just before the hour mark and Samuel Aynsley grabbed the winner with 20 minutes remaining.

Gav Connor, joint boss with brother Ash, said: “We’ve had a fantastic run to get to the final and the two goals in the final were the only goals we have conceded in the cup. Ash and I are really proud of the whole squad for getting to the final.

“We played a top side that’s just been promoted and even after going down to 10 men we stuck at it and never gave up.

“The sending off made a massive difference. It’s hard enough playing a top team with 11 men so having to do it with 10 is obviously really hard.

“It’s a shame because the sending off came just after we had equalised and we looked as though we were going to get on top of the game at that point.”

It’s been an elongated season thanks to the cup run and the weather causing postponements but the second half of the campaign proved successful for the newly-promoted Weavers.

Golcar finished ninth in the league and Connor added: “We’ve had a very good first season at this level.

“We went through a tough start and it’s hard to believe that in October/November we were sitting fourth bottom of the league after 20 games.

“During this time it was difficult and questions were being asked but we hit form in the second part of the season and climbed 11 places to finish ninth and got to this cup final.

“It’s with great credit to the players and coaches that we achieved what we have and it’s nice to be able to prove those that doubted us wrong.

“We’ve had some fantastic results along the way and, as a whole, we all as a club can be proud of where we have finished the season.”

Scroll through our gallery of match action images by Huddersfield Hub photographer SEAN DOYLE