Spen Victoria skipper Ian Wood is adopting a realistic approach about his team's chances of winning the Specialist Ducting Supplies Bradford League Division One title.

The bad news is that with six matches to go second-placed Spen trail defending champions Pudsey Congs by 13 points.

But the good news is that Wood's young team are 11 points ahead of Undercliffe, who are involved in a scrap for third place with, at the very least, Baildon, Woodlands and Hanging Heaton.

Wood said: "We would have to win all our remaining games and Congs would have to slip up twice, which I can't see them doing.

"But I would be delighted if we could finish second. At the start of the season our ambition was merely to finish in the top half of the table, but we have had a great year.

"We have a lot of 20-year-olds in the team, and when I took over the captaincy at the start of the season I knew we had a talented side, but everything has just clicked and we have won all our close games."

Wood added: "Although our overseas player Rao Anjum probably has 300 more runs than any other player in the team, he hasn't been knocking over the top-order batsmen like he was last year.

"However, Kez Ahmed and Gareth Davis have been taking wickets for fun, and another good thing is that we have 11 cricketers - no one is making the numbers up - and that means we bat all the way down.

"Not many teams, apart from perhaps Congs, would have won against East Bierley needing 60 runs for victory with only two wickets left, but we did."

Wood called the defeat by Mirfield in the Heavy Woollen Cup final "a humiliation" and was worried that that setback at Liversedge might have a knock-on effect in the league.

He said: "We should have murdered them on paper, but fortunately we haven't suffered in the longer term."

However, he is wary of tomorrow's match at second-from-bottom Yeadon.

Teams fighting against the drop have been picking up more points than some teams in mid-table over the past month, and Wood said: "Every team in the Bradford League has a match-winner in their side."

Yeadon need a victory to haul themselves back into the log-jam just above them that includes Idle, Farsley, Mirfield and East Bierley. Bottom club Gomersal's position, however, is becoming increasingly desperate, and a home win over Cleckheaton is a must.

Joint third-from-bottom Idle and Farsley both have away matches. Idle face Pudsey St Lawrence and Farsley meet Undercliffe.

Congs are at Bierley, while the match of the day could well be Baildon's home clash with Woodlands.

Division Two leaders Saltaire, the first club to 100 points this season, are at Drighlington, and fellow promotion- chasers Bankfoot and Keighley also have to travel.

Bankfoot play Great Horton, while Keighley's opponents are Salts. Priestley Cup finalists Bradford and Bingley have a rest day.