PADIHAM skipper Phil Haggerty is hoping his side's fine Ramsbottom Cup form can help them to a trophy come the end of the season.

The weekend win over Cherry Tree means that Padiham have booked a spot in the quarter-finals with a game to spare and Hagerty's men also going well in the league and with the Twenty20 competition up and running, the captain is looking forward to a what he hopes can be a successful season at the Arbories.

"We are pleased to get into the quarter finals with a game to spare as it will give us confidence," said Haggerty after the 16 run victory over Cherry Tree on Saturday in a game reduced to 20 overs a side due to the wet weather.

"Without Clitheroe and Great Harwood I think the cup is quite open this year and hopefully we can do well.

"We are now able to look forward to a last eight match and know that we are two wins away from a final but we are not getting carried away just yet."

Padiham were put in at Cherry Tree and openers Nathan Whitehead and Callum Clarke responded to the challenge with 71 and 50 respectively as the visitors made 157-2. The home side posted 141-9 in reply and Haggerty was pleased with his side's performance.

He added: "We reverted to our T20 line up and we knew with Callum and Nathan that 90 per cent of the time they will get some runs and make a 50 partnership, they have got a good understanding together.

"We were pleased with the performance and we took wickets at key times and any time they looked like they might get some momentum we managed to get a wicket. It was a good result as we didn't know if the game would go ahead so your plans go out of the window a little bit in that situation so to respond like we did was pleasing."

Saturday's success came on the back of a defeat in their opening T20 clash of the campaign as Haggerty's men were beaten by Barnoldswick.

"It was a game we should have won," added the skipper.

"We had a little bit of inexperience in the middle order and we panicked a little bit but credit to Barnoldswick because they bowled well and fielded well.

"But we will look to put that right against Earby on Friday night."

Padiham have a triple header of fixtures this weekend with the Earby T20 clash followed by a trip to Euxton and a home game with Salesbury on Sunday, both in the league.

Haggerty added: "They are two tough games for us, we have had a tricky fixture list at the start of the season but we are looking forward to the league double-header."