Pontefract 1 stay in control after derby win
The Yorkshire Premier League resumed this week after its Christmas break and so did Pontefract 1‘s seemingly unstoppable title charge.
The league leaders came up against their stablemates Pontefract 2 on Wednesday night and recorded a 17-5 victory that stretches their lead to 24 points at the summit.
In front of a packed crowd, Adam Taylor and Tom Bamford laid the platform for the first team with solid straight-games victories at fourth and fifth string.
Club captain Matt Godson then took on Noah Riley, who was fresh from competing in the British Junior Open U17 draw in Birmingham. The youngster took a game but Godson’s experience carried him to an 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6 win.
With the match wrapped up, Aussie Brad Fullick added gloss to the scoreline by defeating 18-year-old Chester Dockray, but the second team earned a consolation victory with Kiwi Lwamba Chileshe’s straight-games win over Scot Rory Stewart.
Second-placed Doncaster fought back from an early 2-0 deficit to triumph 15-8 at Ferriby Hall and keep Pontefract 1 on their toes.
Ed Bidder won briskly and Yusef Forster clinched a tight four-setter against Asia Harris to give the Humberside hosts a firm grip. But Aussie David Turner, world no.59 Simon Herbert and world no.46 Nick Wall turned the game around and left Ferriby at the bottom of the table by three points.
Hallamshire ended a run of five defeats thanks to an 18-3 victory at fellow strugglers Cleethorpes that lifts the Sheffield club off the foot of the table.
The 2023/24 champions had an early setback when Cleethorpes’ no.5 James Dean-Atkinson beat Alex Davison, but Jack Cornell, Nick Wall Snr, Adam Turner and Kiwi Temwa Chileshe all won in straight games to claim a crucial five bonus points.
Queens, whose home games are now played at Huddersfield whilst renovations continue to their Halifax venue following a fire last April, took on third-placed Dunnington on Wednesday night.
The York side came away with the winning bonus points in a tight 16-9 scoreline after wins for their top three Owain Taylor, Amaad Fareed and Sam Gibbon. Queens’ all-female lower order of Welsh international Lowri Roberts and former world no.15 Sarah Campion had given them an early lead.
