 The following year they transferred to the Lancashire League, but met with less success, finishing twelfth out of fourteen teams in 1897–98.The club also entered the FA Cup for the first time, reaching the second qualifying round.During this season future Huddersfield Town and Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman played for the club, before moving on to Grimsby Town

In the next two seasons the club continued to dwell in the lower reaches of the Lancashire League, with ninth place in 1899–1900 their highest finish.