Winter League
Review of the results in Divisions 1 & 2 for fixtures played on Wednesday 7 February
The two main contenders for the Division 1 crown both had 8-0 wins on Wednesday to keep up the pressure on each other. The leaders are Thorpe Green A and they had a difficult-looking encounter when taking on 3rd placed Lindley BC A but they made light work of that although a 21-20 win for Ian Briggs over Steve Haigh kept Ian at the top of the averages and his team at the top of the table.
However no one is writing off the defending Champions, Lower Hopton, with good reason. An 8-0 win over Lowerhouses A saw the vanquished team slip to the foot of the table as the winners moved up a place. Lower Hopton now sit in third place with a match in hand over the two teams ahead of them but 14 points behind the leaders and the easiest run-in of the leading contenders with 3 of the bottom 4 still to come under the Lower Hopton scrutiny.
Whilst the top two were clocking up whitewash wins the other two matches in the division both ended up with 4-4 drawn scorelines. New Mill A retained 2nd place despite being held by Clayton West who stay in the third from bottom spot which may yet mean relegation should the end of season shake up lead to a conversion to 8 teams in a division for next season. They are 5 points behind Kirkheaton Cons who were without a match this week. The other match also ended 4-4 as Meltham and Golcar Lib shared the points.
Cowcliffe are the Division 2 Champions as they recorded their third consecutive 8-0 scoreline, this time over Lockwood Con A, and cannot now be caught by any of the chasing pack. Increasingly it looks as if Denby Dale and Lindley Lib A will have to fight it out for the second promotion place and Denby Dale scored an 8-0 win over relegation-threatened Springwood A to move into the prime position. That gives them a 6-points lead on Lindley Lib A who didn't have a match this Wednesday.
Lindley BC B dropped two points to Huddersfield Recreation Club A but they remain in the picture with all the contenders for the second promotion place all having played the same number of 13 matches. Brockholes A and Milnsbridge A shared the points in their match 4-4 and Brockholes' share was sufficient to lift them out of the relegation place, leaving the host club's A team hovering over the relegation trapdoor.