Home teams dominate in 6-Man League

Veterans League

Review of the results in the Veterans 6-Man League on Monday 12 May

Five weeks into the 2025 season and only 2 of the 45 teams have unbeaten playing records and they head the Divisions 2 and 3 tables. Three teams are still looking for their first wins of the season, one each in the top three divisions. This week, 18 of the 21 League fixtures played resulted in home wins.

Of the 3 away wins in the 6-Man League, 2 of them were in Division 1 including the leaders Clayton West who won 6-1 at Golcar C&BC whose poor start to the season continued and they remain in the relegation places. Last year's Division 2 Champions continue to impress at this higher level and now hold a three-point lead over Marsh United A who were the other Division 1 away day winners as they leapfrogged Skel Windmill A to take 2nd place as the Skelmanthorpe side went down 2-5 at Netherton Con A.

Waterloo also overtook the Skel Windmill team after a 5-2 home win over Slaithwaite and the Skel team dropped to 4th place. All this adds up to a congested fight at the top of the table with only 6 points between the top five teams. That cluster of teams includes Shepley A who struggled to dispose of a resilient Thongsbridge A team with a 81-80 aggregate score enabling them to extend their unbeaten home record with a 4-3 scoreline.

That leaves the Thongsbridge as one of three teams in mid-table on 18 points along with Milnsbridge A who used home advantage to clock up a 6-1 win over New Mill A who remain perilously close to the relegation places and an immediate return to the Division 2 status they left last season.

There was a Monday top versus bottom clash in Division 2 as the leaders, Holmfirth A, extended their winning sequence to five matches when winning 5-2 away at Thongsbridge B. At the same time they extended their lead to 4 points over Lindley Lib A who moved into 2nd place after a 6-1 home win over Lockwood Con. That meant they passed Marsh Lib A who were without a match and Brockholes B who took a 1-6 hammering at Crosland Moor.

Golcar Lib also moved up two places after beating Broad Oak A 5-2 whilst Longwood and Paddock I&C swap places but remain in the drop zone after their meeting resulted in a 5-2 home win for Longwood courtesy of an 86-84 aggregate win.

Almondbury Lib maintained their Division 3 100% win record with a 6-1 home victory over Milnsbridge B which also saw them extend their lead at the top of the table to 8 points. Marsh Lib B held on to 2nd place with a 4-3 home win over their nearest rival, Primrose Hill Lib, as an 88-82 aggregate scoreline tipped the points balance in their favour.

All 5 matches in this division saw home wins as Greenhead Park A move up two places with a good 5-2 home success over Denby Dale who are one of the two teams they passed, Milnsbridge B being the other now featuring in their reverse mirror. Linthwaite Hall also benefitted from Monday's results moving up two places to 5th after a 4-3 home win over Lindley Lib B. Those three points for the Lindley outfit just keeps them out of the relegation places as the bottom two teams clashed at Holmfirth B where the home side won 4-3 over Hemplow A who remain in last place for now.

Whilst Hemplow A remain at the foot of the Division 3 table they could be swapping places at the end of the season with the club's B team who continue to lead at the top of the Division 4 table after a 5-2 home win over Shepley B. Netherton Con B had a bye week and will be delighted to learn that they hang on to 2nd place after Greenhead Park B failed to take advantage when going down 2-5 at Clayton West B.

All five home teams won their Division 4 matches this week as Marsh United B won 6-1 against Brockholes C to go third as Skel Windmill B and New Mill B recorded 6-1 home wins over Meltham and Thongsbridge C respectively. Those results really boosted the hopes of better times ahead for New Mill B who moved up from 8th position to 4th and Skel Windmill who moved up 3 places to 6th from 9th spot.