Queens ease past Premier strugglers to stay in race
Queens cruised past bottom side Woodfield 19-3 to maintain their third place position in the Yorkshire Premier squash league.
The first four matches of the evening were all straightgames affairs, with Danny Bray, Cory Harding, Josh Taylor and James Earles encountering little resistance.
The entertainment was left to the top string duo, 2023 British Junior Open champion Finnlay Withington and England international George Parker.
It was a cracker, with 19-year-old Withington hitting back from two games down but unable to complete his comeback in the fifth, which Parker took 11/4.
Pontefract 1 clung on to top spot as this season's incredibly tight title race intensified in round 11.
Ponte saw their lead cut to a single point as they won only narrowly at Abbeydale, while Doncaster hammered Ferriby Hall to close the gap.
Hosts Abbeydale gave
Ponte a rigorous test with home number five Hayden Tetley taking down veteran Stuart Hargreaves in a seesaw five-setter. Ponte were soon level, though, as skipper Matt Godson ground out a lengthy four-game victory over Phil Scully.
Ponte's Adam Taylor was ruthless in his first two games against Abbeydale youngster Josh Payne, coming within a point of dishing out a bagel in game two. Payne put a point on the board in the third but went down 12/10 in the fourth.
But after young Stanley Sykes battled to a brilliant five-game victory over Tom Bamford, the tie hung in the balance going into the topstring finale.
Elijah Thomas settled the tension in quick time though, winning in straight games to card an 18-8 team win for the table-topping visitors.
It was much more straight-forward for Doncaster, who rose to second place after cruising past Ferriby Hall 20-2. Will Donnelly, Lewis Doughty and Joel Arscott all won rapidly, then world number 68 Asia Harris dropped just one game en route to victory over Dan Lawrence. The ever-improving Simon Herbert, now 56 in the world, also won in four at top string.
Defending champions Hallamshire kept themselves firmly in the race by demolishing Harrogate 202 to move up to fourth place.