PICKERING Town’s injury hoodoo struck again as they slipped to ninth in the Northern Counties East League premier division and exited the League Cup.

Goalkeeper Kevin Martin’s campaign could be over after he suffered a serious calf injury three minutes into the Pikes’ 2-1 league defeat at Arnold Town last Tuesday.

That ruled Martinout of Thursday’s League Cup clash away to Winterton Rangers, which ended in a 4-1 defeat as the club’s last chance of a trophy disappeared.

The quarter-final defeat at Winterton ensured the Pikes’ League Cup ambitions ended on the other side of the Humber Bridge for a second successive season, after last year’s defeat at Barton Town Old Boys.

Pickering’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals for the first time were in tatters after they conceded three goals in the opening nine minutes, all from set-pieces orchestrated by Nathan Would.

Would’s corner found an unmarked Gregg Archer and he headed in the opener after three minutes, and his long throws created two goals in a minute for Lee Mohammed.

A further two Would corners threatened to produce goals, with one scrambled off the line by Tom Adams and the other seeing Archer head wide.

The Pikes came back well and Chris Batchelor scored with a low 18-yard left-footed shot after 14 minutes after good build up play from David James and Darren Clough.

Batchelor and Chris Johnson went close to pulling another goal back for the visitors, while Michael McNaughton headed over from a corner.

James twice went close for Town in the second half, but Luke Foulkes restored Rangers’ three-goal cushion with a 62nd minute effort.

Manager Mark Wood said: “The game at Winterton was a huge disappointment.

“We just didn’t defend set pieces in the opening 10 minutes, which left us with a mountain to climb. You can’t give a side like Winterton a three-goal start as they are a big, strong, powerful, physical side.

“After the opening 10 minutes, we gave as good as we got. Had we scored a second goal before half-time, we might have got back into the game.”

The Pikes were reduced to nine men in the Arnold defeat after Lee Pallender was sent off for two bookable offences and Richard Whitfield received a straight red for a 52nd-minute foul.

All the goals came in the last 10 minutes, with Chris Freestone netting for Arnold on 80 minutes and Martin Carruthers doubling the advantage on 84 minutes before Johnson scored a last-minute goal for Pickering.

Wood said: “Looking back at the Arnold game, we started with Kevin Martin having to come off after just two minutes with a very bad calf injury.

“We had a very young side out and the youngsters battled well and we finished with only nine men after two were sent off very harshly.

“We also had our captain, Joe Connor, in goal so all in all it was not a bad result and, in fact, we could have won the game.

“All in all, we have had a very good season until the injury hoodoo struck us down. We just have two away games remaining and two at home, then we can get down to planning next season.”

Pikes (at Winterton Rangers): Clark, Adams (Freer 80), Brunton, Pallender, McNaughton, Connor, Clough, James, Gildea, C Johnson (Nuttall 75), Batchelor. Sub not used: Derrick.

Pikes (at Arnold Town): Martin (Derrick 2), Scott (Freer 81), Brunton, Pallender, Gildea, Connor, Thackray, James, Whitfield, C Johnson, Batchelor. Sub not used: Wood.

* Pickering’s Under-19s crashed to a 2-0 home defeat to Selby Town. The U19s host Scarborough on Monday, April 20.