New captain Glenn Roberts has one ambition left as his Pudsey Congs career draws to a close – to keep the one- time JCT600 Bradford League champions in the First Division.

And the experienced all-rounder led from the front as Congs gained an important victory in their bid to retain their top-flight status – a four-wicket win at bottom club Undercliffe in his first match in charge following Andrew Bairstow’s decision to step down as skipper.

Roberts, one of three survivors from the team that won five titles in a row between 2000 and 2004 – Bairstow and Babar Butt are the others – insists he will leave Congs at the end of the season after 12 years service, but first wants to secure their First Division future.

He said: “It was an important match to win and it was important to bring confidence back into the side. My aim in the next five weeks is to keep the club in the First Division and bring on the next set of players to take the club forward.

“It is difficult to go through a transitional period, stay competitive and bring on young players. The plan next season is to recruit a couple of quality players with experience and find a new captain but it is important that we stay in the First Division and stay competitive.

“I am semi-retiring at the end of the season and I won’t be here next year so I am passing on the baton. I have played with some great players in my 12 years at Pudsey Congs and now it is time for the next generation.”

Undercliffe made a great start with an opening stand of 124 between former Yorkshire second-team batsman Callum Geldart and Matthew Bottomley, Geldart making 72 and Bottomley 48.

However, when they were parted they lost four wickets for 12 runs before later batsman mounted a partial recovery to help them reach 200 in the last over and gain four batting points.

Nineteen-year-old Basil Akram, a Loughborough University student who has played for Northamptonshire second team, took 3-18 in seven overs, while Eugene Burzler (4-32) and Roberts (3-49) kept the later batsmen in check to make sure Congs had a manageable target.

Congs did not make the best of starts, losing their first three wickets for 37, but Bairstow (47) and Burzler put them on course with a fourth-wicket stand of 67 before Bairstow skied a catch to Mubtada Akhtar at mid-wicket.

The experienced Butt then joined Burzler in a sixth-wicket stand of 51 but he should have been out at 138 when Yassir Abbas and Sohail Khan collided in going for a catch at mid-on during a torrid spell from overseas fast bowler Imran Khan.

The miss proved to be costly for Undercliffe for, after Burzler was out for an invaluable 69, Butt and Roberts guided Congs to victory with 4.3 overs to spare in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand of 38.

Roberts, who missed most of the first half of the season due to school commitments – he is a sports teacher at an independent school and looks after cricket teams on Saturday afternoons – said: “Undercliffe were on course for 220 or 230 after their opening stand so we were happy to keep them to 200, although I would have preferred 185.

The defeat leaves Undercliffe 23 points from safety and captain Ben Heritage said: “At 124-0 you expect to put on another 100 to give you something like 230.

“We bowled reasonably well but dropped catches cost us dearly. We dropped opener Gareth Phillips and Andrew Bairstow, but the big miss was Barbar Butt. However, there are six matches to go and a big one at Saltaire next week.”