Ambitious Bradford & Bingley are preparing for the last lap of the season ready for a strong tilt at the Bradford League title.

Bingley leapfrogged into second place when leaders Pudsey Congs beat Baildon by nine wickets while they won by four wickets at Yeadon.

They go into tomorrow's match at home to Windhill six points behind Congs who have a tough home game against defending champions Hanging Heaton, now up into fourth place.

Bingley skipper Pat Fordham said: "There are six matches to go but we have got four difficult ones. We would expect to take points off our next two opponents, Windhill and Brighouse, although Brighouse beat us easily and we only took one point off Windhill in the first half of the season. We have to play a lot better than we did then.

"But our last four games against East Bierley, Baildon, Hanging Heaton and Pudsey Congs, are difficult and it is going to be an interesting end to the season."

The fact that Bingley are challenging strongly for the title at this stage of the season is no surprise to Fordham.

"I didn't think we would be too far away," he said. "I thought we would be a good enough team to be in the top four, but we have done very well.

"Richard McCarthy is having a magnificent season and all the players have chipped in at different times and contributed to winning matches."

While some people believe it is a three-horse race for the title - Pudsey Congs, Bingley and Baildon - Fordham does not discount Hanging Heaton even though they are 16 points behind the leaders.

He said: "Pudsey Congs are obviously a strong side, Baildon are also a good side for whom things have not gone their way recently, but you can't imagine they will be too far away and Hanging Heaton won't be either.

"They have got two of the best batsmen in the league in Steve Foster and Steve Bartle and two of the best bowlers in John Carruthers and Elliott Noble.

"They are a very strong side and have the advantage of playing on a pitch where no one else wants to play. That gives them a huge psychological advantage. Any one of those teams can win it. I think it is still a very open contest.

"If we are going to win we will have to be at our very best. It is going to be hard, but the players have got the ambition to win the title. There is no question we can do it, it is whether we can play well enough to do it."