BROMYARD FC's success story continues to gather pace.

The club, which split from Bromyard Town just a couple of seasons ago, are now top of Division Two of the Herefordshire League after winning Division Three at a canter last term.

And now, after victory over Pencombe in the quarter-final of the Jock Handley Cup last Saturday they are now in two cup semi-finals, a source of great pride for player/manager Matt Beale.

“We only started up as club last season and we feel we have shown what we can do so far," said the former Westfields midfielder. "We haven’t lost a game in any competition at home which is an amazing achievement and testament to the hard work the lads put in week in week out”.

One of the reasons for the split was to give the youth a chance in the first team and to get some valuable experience in playing men’s football and as Beale explained they haven’t let the team or him down.

“The young lads weren’t given a chance before," said Beale. "So we felt that the best thing to do was to split and get them playing the football that they deserved and they have proved without a doubt that we made the right decision in doing so.

"All the junior sections are doing well and we are always looking to get a few of the under-16s to come through and fight for a place with some of the experienced lads that we have in the team already.”

One of the more experienced players that has been looking to pass on his knowledge of the game is captain Chris Jefferson who is enjoying the progression his younger teammates have made so far.

“When the clubs split, the objective for me was to help the youngsters come through," said Jefferson. "We have got a great crop coming through; at the moment it’s like a production line, with the lads progressing through each youth level and earning themselves a place in the squad.

"We had five or six lads out there today, all putting in strong performances so it’s a great time for the club.”

There was a minute's silence before the game against Pencombe to pay respect to local lad Ed Trafford who recently lost his battle against cancer and manager Beale dedicated the victory in his memory.

“Ed was a Bromyard lad and played football through the youth levels with some of the lads that were playing today," he said.

"It was devastating news for all the boys when they learnt he had passed away and the boys were keen to dedicated today’s game to him and put in a performance that would be fit his memory.”

And indeed it was a strong performance from Bromyard who had the game wrapped up at half time, taking a 5-1 lead into the break thanks to goals from Jack Muirhead, Mark Corbett , Chris Jefferson and Karl Long as well as an own goal in the opening 15 seconds of the half.

Pencombe did offer some stern resistance in the second half, Ben Watkins scoring the only goal in the final 45 minutes.

But they were unable to cause any further problems to a Bromyard side that, with the victory, have and earned themselves a home semi final tie against Tenbury United.