Gomersal's Matthew Garside held his nerve to hit the last ball for four yesterday and seal victory at home to his old club Spen Victoria.

It looked as if the hosts - without leg-spinner Mark Lawson, who has signed for Yorkshire League champions Barnsley - had squandered the points after a fine century from Richard Gould had put them on course to reach their target of 223.

After losing Gould for 112, they needed 17 to win off 18 balls with seven wickets left.

But paceman Chris Elstub and Richard Wear were proving difficult to score off and skipper Rob Burton was run out going for a second, leaving Gomersal needing nine to win off the last over from Wear.

The youngster, signed from Denholme this season, bowled two wides but conceded only three singles off the bat in his first five balls, leaving Garside needing a boundary for victory off the last.

Wear had coped well with the pressure and had taken the prize wicket of Gould caught behind, which had brought Spen back into the game.

But his final ball was a half-volley and Garside capitalised by straight-driving it into the sight screen, giving long-on and long-off no chance.

Several of Spen's fielders sank to their knees in despair - not only had they been defeated by their local rivals, they had lost to Bankfoot the week before on the penultimate ball.

Garside, who learned his cricket as a junior at Spen, said: "I didn't really feel nervous.

"It was better being out there rather than having to watch from the sidelines.

"My only thoughts were to hit straight and I managed to find the middle of the bat.

"They always tend to be tight games against Spen.

"Richard Gould showed why he is such a quality player and it was a shame he couldn't have been there at the end.

"This was a big win for us as we've been a bit up and down and been rolled over a couple of times. It was nice to knock off 200-plus."

Gould hit 13 fours and three sixes and was easily the senior partner in an opening stand of 115 with Amer Siddique.

It needed overseas player Adnan Raza Ali and new signing James Finch to bring the visitors back into the game.

The first ten overs had gone for 46 before the introduction of the two spinners saw the next ten go for just nine runs.

Gould needed treatment after being hit on the hand at the non-striker's end from a Siddique shot.

But it didn't seem to affect him as he broke the stranglehold with two boundaries in one over off Finch soon afterwards.

The 18-year-old Yorkshire Academy spinner had warmed up for his Spen debut by bowling at the England and West Indies players at Head-ingley during the week.

Gould lost Siddique for 37 and Bradley Parker for 12, both falling to Nick Robinson, on his way to three figures, which he reached after a huge six off Finch out of the ground.

That made it 172 for two before his dismissal soon afterwards sparked the late drama.

Earlier in the day, Matthew Speck played the big innings for Spen in their 222 for eight.

He contributed 97 towards a total which, at 160 for two with ten overs left, could have been much bigger.

But after good support from Callum Geldart (28) and Elstub (30), none of the next five batsman reached double figures.

It was only thanks to a late flurry from Jonathan Rudge, who hit two fours and a six in the last over, that Spen almost gained maximum batting points.

After his side's second successive defeat at the death, skipper Sam Anderson said: "It gets to you after a while but we'll train hard this week, meet on Tuesday and take the positives out of this.

"For three-quarters of the game, I thought we were on top. It was only in the last quarter that it got away from us."