Pontefract are back on top of Premier Squash League after whitewash victory over Nottingham

Pontefract did their title prospects no harm as they raced to a whitewash victory over Nottingham, who returned home pointless.

The 4-0 success saw all four of Ponte’s players in fine form as they each wrapped up straight game victories.

Patrick Rooney beat Elijah Thomas 11-7, 11-2, 11-4; Hollie Naughton defeated Millie Tomlinson 11-4, 11-1, 11-7; Chris Simpson came out on top 11-5, 11-2, 11-8 against Michael Andrews; and Lucy Turmel beat Faiza Zafar 11-3, 11-1, 11-5.

The result left Pontefract three points clear at the top with a record of three wins and two defeats so far.

In second are Alba Storm after they lost 3-1 to third-placed RAC.

Positions: Pontefract played 5 – points 53; Alba Storm 5-50; RAC 4-43; St George’s 4-35; Crawley 4-33; Birmingham 4-23; Nottingham 4-19.

After a few tough weeks Pontefract’s senior Yorkshire Premier League team were happy to be back playing in front of their home crowd as they beat Harrogate 15-6.

First on was John Riley, but although he dug in deep he lost 3-0 to a sharp Dom Bayley.

At fourth string saw James Wilkinson took on Ross Kneller and showed that he seems to be getting back into his stride after a hamstring injury as he always seemed to be in control and took the match 3-0.

At third string Ben Hetherington never looked troubled as he beat Alec Fuller 3-0.

The second string match was between two New Zealanders in Mason Smales and Temwa Chileshe and started off fast and furious, both displaying high quality squash. Ponte’s Mason took the first game 12-10 only to lose an equally close second 13-11.

But with the match tied at 1-1 Temwa kept his composure to close out the match 3-1.

With the match tied at 2-2 it was down to the number ones to decide the winners.

The final match was between Patrick Rooney and another New Zealander Lwamba Chileshe and started at a high intensity, with both players working hard.

Ponte star Rooney edged the opening game 14-12 and kept the intensity up for the next two games, winning 11-8 and 11-9 to close out a 3-0 success that have victory to Pontefract 1.

World champions St Helens make Castleford Tigers pay for missed chances

Pontefract 2 fell to another narrow defeat, this time to table toppers Hallamshire, who are in form, seem intent on claiming the title and won 14-8.

First on at number five was the resurgent Ben Beachill and he raced to a 3-0 success against Ollie Turner.

Next on was world Number 18 Hollie Naughton, making her first appearance for the second team since January, against veteran Nick Wall Snr. It was a slightly less clean match, but had the same outcome, 3-0 and a healthy lead for Pontefract.

On at number three was Matt Godson against the ever improving Matt Gregory. The two have only met once before, where the former won 3-1. With Pontefract 2-0 up on the night, this seemed like a perfect opportunity to claim a scalp against the league leaders.

But Godson never seemed to be firing on all cylinders. The match see-sawed either way, but in the end it was Gregory who took it in the fifth after over an hour.

That left the responsibility with the upper order to get the result. Tom Bamford took on Hallamshire coach Adam Turner. The two have always had entertaining encounters so this promised to be an intriguing match up. Turner was on form, however, and closed it out in three.

Last on were the number ones as Adam Taylor took on former world number one Nick Matthew.

Taylor came very close to stealing the first game, but Matthew’s class shone through as he saw it out in three.