Aiming to follow county rivals St. Benedict’s to a Twickenham final, Aspatria must wait a while to find out their quarter final opponents.

The Black Reds were left two wins away from HQ when they scored their second Pool victory in the Intermediate Cup on Saturday, beating Anselmians 33-22.

Having already hammered Bolton 52-10 earlier in the season in their opening Pool game, it has left Aspatria on a points differential of plus 53 – and that is going to determine the venue for the quarter final.

West Leeds look favourites to provide the opposition after beating Gateshead 52-12 at the weekend and still having to fit in a game against Novos.

Aspatria official Barney Clegg said: “It basically means that, if West Leeds beat Novos by 14 points, then they will host us in the quarter finals. Anything less would mean us having home advantage.

“West Leeds are going well in Yorkshire One, lying fourth with eight wins from their 12 games so far.

“Novos are next to bottom of Durham/Northumberland One, two places below Gateshead so everything points to a big West Leeds win.”

Interestingly, the Gateshead v Novos game was postponed in October and hasn’t been played since.

Tomorrow, Aspatria entertain Upper Eden who put a major blot on the Black Reds’ record last month when they beat them 33-30 at Kirkby Stephen.

Clegg said: “We had eight or nine regulars missing for that game. Most of those played at Anselmians and will be available for selection again this weekend.

“It’ a big day for us with a popular sponsor David Allen at the club with considerable support so we will be looking to put the record straight."

Upper Eden, however, proved their worth again on Saturday when they made North Lancs Cumbria leaders Carlisle work hard for their 14-7 win at Pennine Park.

Carlisle will expect to confirm their position at the top tomorrow when they host bottom side Silloth, who were soundly beaten 64-7 at Wigton last week.

While that result kept Silloth firmly entrenched at the bottom of the table, it catapulted Wigton firmly into promotion contention.

The Greens are now second in the North Lancs Cumbria table, helped by surprise defeats for Bolton and Fleetwood.

Six teams are covered by just three points – headed by Wigton (42) who are 12 points behind Carlisle with a game in hand.

Close behind come Aspatria and De La Salle (41), followed by Bolton, Fleetwood and Hawcoat Park (all 39).

All of them have played 12 games apart from Hawcoat Park, who have completed 13 fixtures.

Tomorrow, Wigton visit the Ellis Sports Ground to take-on a Workington side locked in a battle to avoid relegation.

In North One West, St. Benedict’s were encouraged by a 19-7 home win over Blackburn which kept them in the top half of the table (seventh).

They travel to Lancaster tomorrow to take on Vale of Lune, one of the sides closest to them in the table. Vale are two points behind them after the same number of games.

After the Blackburn game, club stalwart Stephen Howse said: “We played with a lot of heart and the attitude of the players was first class.

"At times, it was more battering ram than flair from both sides but we had glimpses of our attacking style, only unfortunately the last pass was rushed and went astray a couple of times.”

Matches in the Cumbria League tomorrow include – Carlisle Crusaders v Cockermouth; Moresby v Keswick; St. Benedict’s Ravens v Millom; Whitehaven v Furness; Windermere v Egremont.