Bardsey saw off Halifax Irish 2-1 in last Thursday’s semi-final and will now tackle Barnoldswick Town at Woodlesford on Friday, May 2.

Goals from Mike Toney and Matthew Carry gave Bardsey an early lead and Steve Larner’s side held on for victory despite Irish making it 2-1 before half-time.

Champions Bardsey have since suffered a league blip - the title all but Carlton’s after Bardsey lost 2-1 at Knaresborough Town on Saturday and 3-2 at home to Pool on Wednesday evening.

Hopton is warning that cup final shirts are now up for grabs but paid tribute to Bardsey’s players and management team for getting them to the final.

“They’ve had their eye set on it as we had a good run in it last year but now we’ve gone one step further,” said Hopton.

“We are delighted and it’s a brilliant achievement.

“I’d like to say thanks to everybody as we’ve had texts and telephone calls from managers of various clubs to congratulate us and it’s nice to think people are behind us.

“Fair play to the players as they battled hard.”

Before their big day Bardsey now face a gruelling league run with five quickfire games before their cup final.

Field at home tomorrow (2.30pm) and Wednesday’s visit to Ripon City (6.15pm) start the run and Hopton is warning that players taking it easy won’t be playing at Woodlesford.

“People have got to play for their places to get in the final and we want a better attitude to get the best finish we can,” said the chairman.

“If people want a place in the cup final they’d better pull out all the stops.

“There’s some difficult games coming up and Field are a good side.

“They beat us at home in the cup so we owe them one.”

Top scorer Rob Dickinson may return from injury tomorrow but Mike Longfellow remains out long term.

Elsewhere, boss Des English wants WETHERBY ATHLETIC treating tomorrow’s struggling visitors Aberford like a Carlton or Sherburn (kick-off 2.30pm).

Wetherby remain in the bottom half but have put in fine shows against Sherburn and Carlton recently - losing just 3-2 at the champions elect on Saturday.

English now wants those displays repeated against a side propping up the table and scrapping for their lives.

“It’s a big game for us and we need to get some points in the league as we could do with them,” said English.

“We’ve got to maintain the way we’ve been playing in these games - I’ve been really pleased with the attitude and commitment but now we’ve got to carry that into our next games.