Wensleydale League

DEFENDING champions Bowes look set to retain the title for a third successive year after they won three times last week to jump to the top of the table.

They began their busy schedule with a 2-1 win at Buck Inn Old Boys on Wednesday of last week. John Bishton had given the hosts an early lead, but Wayne Thwaites struck either side of the break to give Bowes an important three points.

They followed that up with comfortable 4-0 win at Hawes B last Saturday to go to the top.

Goals from Andrew Close, Andrew Smith and Thwaites sealed the points before the break and, while the hosts missed a second half penalty, Smith completed the scoring ten minutes from time.

Forty-eight hours later, they beat visitors Reeth 6-0 to increase their lead at the top to three points. The match was over as a contest before the break as goals from Andrew Smith, Neil Gulliver, Scott Walker and Thwaites again gave them a 4-0 advantage.

With the points safe, Bowes made some changes but they still added further strikes from the impressive Max Applegarth and Smith to leave them needing just two more wins from their final four games to be crowned champions for a third year in a row.

Richmond Town Academy, who had led the table since Christmas, slipped down to second place despite a 5-0 win at an under strength Richmond Mavericks A last Saturday.

Richard Bastow led the way with a fine brace, while Dan Briody, Carl Haxell and Nick Fenwick were also on target for the Academy, who only have two matches left to play.

Buck Inn Broncos thrashed Hawes United 9-0 at home last Saturday to keep their fading title hopes alive. The visitors were playing their seventh match in 21 days and it showed as they offered little resistance to a rampant Broncos.

Ian Taylor made a five-goal salvo while Lloyd Tate, Fabio Sartini, Anth Weighall and Phil Stirling completed a routine victory for the hosts.

Hawes had beaten Unicorn FC 4-2 at home the previous Wednesday thanks to a brace from Jonathon Champion, a penalty from Wilf Dinsdale and a strike from Steve Calvert, while Mark Turner scored both for the Unicorn.

However the sheer weight of games caught up with Hawes as they were beaten 5-0 at Carperby Rovers last Monday. John Pickard and Mark Percival put the hosts in control before the break, while veterans Nick Oliver and David Law added further strikes in the second half with Mark Robinson completing the scoring in the final minute.

Colburn Town have put together a fine recent run of results and this continued with two wins in two days. They began with a 7-1 home win over Richmond Athletic last Saturday to move up to fourth.

Big defender Chris Dempster scored his second hat-trick in three weeks, while Adam Taylor, Simon McGuiness, Tom Keegan and Pete Hughes completed the scoring with Damian Clarke on target for Athletic.

Colburn then beat Askrigg United 3-1 at home on Monday evening with goals from Simon McGuiness, Dempster again and Andrew Reid.

Buck Inn Old Boys bounced back from their earlier defeat to Bowes with an 11-0 win at Askrigg last Saturday. Gary Egglestone hit a fine hat-trick, which included a penalty and a free-kick, while James Conway, Martin Peacock and Bishton all struck twice.

Scott Ryan, with his tenth goal of the season, and Marcus Dowman were also on target as the Old Boys enjoyed their biggest win of this, and many other seasons. Askrigg had given a far more solid defensive display three days earlier as they drew 0-0 with visitors Redmire United.

Redmire then visited Kirkby Malzeard last Saturday and drew again, this time 2-2. A first half brace from Bruce Lambert seemed to have put Redmire on their way to all three points, but Brian MacNair pulled one back for the hosts just before the break and he then ensured the points were shared with a fine second half finish.

Kirkby then welcomed Leyburn United to Ripon last Monday and were just 15 minutes away from a shock win before finally going down to a 5-3 defeat.

Goals from Stu Clarke and a penalty from Niki Westbury put Kirkby in control before the break, but an under-strength Leyburn played much better in the second half.

Lee Fawcett put them back into it on the hour but the hosts looked to have sealed a shock win when an own goal put them 3-1 up with less than 15 minutes left. However goals from Barry Jackson and Adam Gray soon had Leyburn level and they went ahead for the first time six minutes from time when Fawcett scored his 30th goal of the season.

Jackson then completed the scoring in the final minute to leave Kirkby stunned.

Spennithorne enjoyed a mixed week as they won 5-0 at Hawes B on Wednesday of last week before then losing 3-2 at home at Carperby last Saturday.

Unicorn enjoyed two wins in two days to move away from the bottom three. Last Saturday they won 2-1 at Reeth , then last Monday evening they beat visitors Richmond Athletic 5-2 .