The astounding form of Pontefract 2 continued in round five of the Yorkshire Premier League as the self-styled ‘Unexpected Dream Team’ joined defending champions Queens at the top of the table.

Following Wednesday night’s narrow win at third-placed Woodfield, Ponte’s second team are now dead level with Halifax club Queens at the summit on 68 points with the same points difference of +18. 

Ponte 2 had to fight back from early adversity after vice-captain Billy Hawes was downed rapidly by Woodfield’s Ray Nevin and the hosts’ youngster Matt Urquhart-Proctor won a gladiatorial five-setter against Stuart Hargreaves. 

Back came the visitors though. Luck was on Ponte’s side when Woodfield’s promising junior Alec Tomlinson had to retire at 2/0 and 5-2 down against Chris Gillespie due to a knee injury. Captain Matt Godson then sealed a 10th consecutive YPL victory by seeing off Alex Cutts in four. 

The top-string encounter was to be the match decider and it proved to be one-sided as Adam Taylor toppled Ben Sockett in straight games to card a 16-7 Ponte 2 victory. 

Queens slipped to a second defeat of the season (having lost only once in 2021/22) despite early victories for Bader Almaghrebi and Josh Taylor away at Dunnington. 

Taminder Gata Aura, playing at no.5, beat Danny Bray in four games and Hampshire youngster Jared Carter levelled matters with a straight-games win over relative veteran James Earles. 

Finnlay Withington, freshly crowned as British Under-19 junior champion last weekend, went up against former world no.20 Chris Simpson in the top-string match decider. Simpson’s experience proved critical as he came from a game down to clinch a shock 15-8 victory for the York side, who move into fourth place. 

Abbeydale are fifth after a nail-biting 14-10 victory at top-tier new boys Harrogate. Ross Kneller got three early points on the board for the North Yorkshire side, but Sam Watts won a grueller for the Sheffield visitors against Richard Leonard. 

The sides also swapped victories further up the order when Abbeydale’s Josh Payne and Harrogate’s homegrown Josh Rowley both won in three. Once again the top-string encounter was to be the decider, and it was Abbeydale’s 24-year-old Jordan Hardwick who won a see-saw five-setter against the home side’s new signing Declan Christie. 

In Leeds, bottom side Chapel Allerton put up their best display of the season so far but remain winless after narrowly missing out against Hallamshire. 

Chapel A’s Richard Hinds won a slightly bad-tempered five-setter against veteran Nick Wall Snr and Lewis Harding won both opening games on tie-breaks in a stylish four-game win over Hallamshire’s Jayden Gough. 

But the visitors’ Ollie Turner and Adam Turner both notched four-game wins to ensure that the top-string match-up between Chapel A’s towering Owain Taylor and three-time world champion Nick Matthew would decide the result. Playing out of his skin, Taylor took the first game on a tie-break, but he found his early intensity difficult to maintain against the remorseless Matthew, who took the upper hand thereafter to win in four and seal a 17-9 win. 

Doncaster won 17-7 at Pontefract 1 in Wednesday’s basement battle, with Asia Harris – playing against the club where she grew up – setting the tone with a five-game cracker against Ben Hodgetts at no.5. 

Donny’s David Turner profited from a James Wilkinson injury and Toby Ponting won 3/0 to wrap up the five bonus points early doors, then ex-Ponte man Lewis Doughty turned the screw by coming from 2/1 down to overcome the hosts’ second string Carlton Oldham. 

World no.22 Patrick Rooney salvaged some pride for the hosts with a quickfire win over new Zealander Joel Arscott, who had to retire injured in the third.