The battle against relegation from the Bradford League First Division intensified with bottom club Gomersal winning only their second match of the season and Idle and Yeadon both earning valuable four-point draws.

There was a tense finish at Idle where the home side took four points off leaders Pudsey Congs, who were only four runs adrift when the match ended.

That result put Idle level on 33 points with Farsley, whose bad run continued when they were forced to hang on for point, 39 runs behind with their last pair at the wicket at relegation rivals Yeadon.

Gomersal are favourites to go down the season after they won the Second Division championship, but they showed some admirable fighting spirit with a 70-run win at Mirfield, who won the Heavy Woollen Cup only the week before.

Ben Graham (70) and Gareth Lee (64) gave them a great start with a first wicket stand of 112, but the other batsmen couldn't build on it and they had to settle for 196 for four. It proved to be more than enough to beat Mirfield, who could make only 128 with David Hilton taking five for 42 in 19.4 overs and Lee completing a fine all-round performance with four for 36.

Gomersal are still ten points adrift of Yeadon, who had the better of their drawn home match against Farsley. Jamie Kennaway (65) and captain Grant Soames (86no) laid the foundations for Yeadon's total of 242 for six with a fourth-wicket stand of 79.

Yeadon then made early inroads into the Farsley batting line-up, reducing the visitors to 47 for three. They were rescued by captain Ashley Metcalfe (60) and Nahim Ashraf (48) with a fifth-wicket stand of 82, but they then collapsed losing four wickets for 20 runs to leave the last-wicket pair of Robert Thornton and Craig Hitchenor to play for a draw at 203 for nine.

Yeadon are one point behind Idle and Farsley and there will be a tense battle between these three clubs and Gomersal to avoid the bottom two relegation places.

Former Pakistan Test player Ijaz Ahmed top scored with 90 as Idle posted an impressive 238 against Pudsey Congs' highly-rated attack.

The leaders' victory bid was led by opener Andy Bethel (55) and Barbar Butt (89), who put on 156 for the second wicket after the early loss of Paul Carroll, but they lost three wickets for four runs in the middle order and finished agonisingly short at 234 for six.

Spen Victoria cut Congs' lead to 13 points after their thrilling one-wicket win at home to Baildon.

Opener Phil Slater (88) and wicketkeeper Matthew Duce (74) were top scorers as Baildon made a challenging 248 for nine. Gareth Davis stood firm with 61 as Spen lost Gharib Razak, Chris Elstub and Scott Cunningham cheaply and, at 147 for seven with 102 runs still needed, victory looked unlikely. However, overseas all-rounder Rao Anjum then took charge of the innings and led Spen to an impressive tenth win of the season with 2.1 overs to spare with a superb 117 not out, including four sixes and 14 fours.

Undercliffe lost more ground in the title race despite two outstanding individual performances in a high-scoring match at Pudsey St Lawrence that produced 573 runs.

Opener Mark Whitehead scored 112, including two sixes and 17 fours, putting on 153 for the third wicket with Yorkshire batsman Gary Fellows (86). Undercliffe off spinner Andy Walker took seven for 101, including a hat-trick as St Lawrence lost their last five wickets for three runs to finish on a formidable 294.

Yorkshire batsman Chris Taylor, who hit five sixes and 11 fours in his 139 led Undercliffe's victory bid as he put on 98 for the second wicket with junior William Sharpe (57), but they lost cheap wickets in search for quick runs and were forced to settle for a draw on 279 for nine, 15 runs adrift of Pudsey's total.

Yorkshire all-rounder Gavin Hamilton took five for 35 in East Bierley's 50-run win at Woodlands, who were bowled out for 161 in reply to the visitors' total of 211 for seven. Opener Richard Gould top scored with 65 for Bierley.

Cleckheaton clung on for a point at 202 for nine at Hanging Heaton. Young opener Jordan Anderson top scored with 79 in the home side's total of 236 for four.