Harrogate join Leeds at top of YIDU Junior League table

Both sides now have eight points from five matches - four wins and a loss - but Leeds remain at the summit thanks to an accumulation of 108 match points in comparison to Harrogate’s 102.

The foursomes were shared 6-6 before Harrogate took overall victory thanks to a 13-11 success in the singles.

Wakefield’s Ewan Bromley and Moor Allerton’s Reece Simmons reduced the margin of defeat with wins in the last two matches.

By then a run of victories in the middle of the singles match sheet - Harrogate won matches five through eight - had put the hosts in a position of strength and Otley’s Sion Blears got them over the line with a 2&1 triumph over Jak Cavanagh (Moortown).

Four players won both their singles and foursomes matches for Harrogate: Nathan Seal (Knaresborough), Oliver Abbot (Pannal), Henry Croft (Ilkley) and Blears. Pannal’s Will Caldecott was undefeated with a win and a half.

Three players on Leeds’s team achieved maximum returns: Tom Hough, of Pontefract, Bromley and Simmons.

Sheffield and Teesside both have six points from three wins and two losses.

The former took an 8-4 foursomes lead over York at The Oaks and compounded the advantage in the singles, winning the session 13-11 for a 21-15 overall triumph.

Two Sheffield players won both their matches - Arron Nairn (Rotherham) and Rauri Lowe (Wheatley) - and three were undefeated returning 1.5 points, Rothervalley’s Jakob Danks, Lindrick’s Greg Denton and Bondhay’s Elliott Jarvis.

Jacob Scargill (Sandburn Hall) was a winner twice for York, Matt Jagger (Pike Hills) and Ben Statters (Easingwold) returned a win and a half, and Scargill’s club-mate Ciaran Mathews halved both his matches.

Five of Teesside’s players had maximum returns in the 22-14 win over Scarborough South - Aaron McMannus (Darlington), Castle Eden club-mates Thomas Harbord and Jack Trewhitt, Michael Hay (Hunley) and Will Skipp (Eaglescliffe).

Three East Riding players did likewise in Bridlington’s Matty Raybould, Scarbough North Cliff’s Tom Duck and Hull’s Ben Ratcliffe.

Bradford recorded their first win of the season and in emphatic fashion, defeating York 24-12 at Woodhall Hills.

Five of their players won in the morning and afternoon sessions in Ben Rhodes (Woodhall Hills), Oliver Tasker (Cleckheaton), Matt Morrison (Shipley), Jordan Clements (Northcliffe) and Sam Reeve (Branshaw). Two others - South Bradford’s Lewis Walls and James Tate, of Bradford, returned one win and a half each.

Pike Hills’ Jagger was the sole duplicate victor for York after he and Sandburn Hall’s Matthews provided the visitors’ only foursomes success story.