Harrogate Fifths 1, Bingley Bees 2

Bingley Bees started well in this Yorkshire Men's Division Six North fixture and caught the defence napping after just four minutes when Dennis Valentiner-Branth put the ball neatly past the keeper.

It looked as though the Bees would be comfortable winners as they had a good number of chances to increase their lead early on.

The Harrogate keeper, however, had other ideas and kept his side in the game for the rest of the half.

Excellent play from Stephen Booth and Joe Manning had the home defence constantly on the back foot, with James Pearson and Benjamin Clough also powering forward many times.

But the Bees paid the penalty for not taking their opportunities when Harrogate drew level from a very acute angle in the second half.

Play then became slightly frantic, with both teams feeling that a victory was there to be had, a number of errors from both sides making for a large percentage of play between the 23s.

The visitors finally found the net for a second time five minutes from the end when Harrogate failed to clear a short corner, the ball running loose for Clough to force the ball home.

Bingley Bees defeated Leeds Seconds 2-0 at Bradford Grammar School in the Yorkshire Women's Premier Division, while Bingley Bees Seconds drew 1-1 at Leeds Thirds in Yorkshire Women's Division Four at the University of Leeds.

The match was expected to be a tense and even, and it didn't disappoint.

Play went from end to end but Leeds took the lead when Bingley's defence made an uncharacteristic error, allowing a one-on-one strike against the visitors' keeper.

Jo Gray, with a change in her usual position from defence to midfield, was the Bees' player of the match, while Lesley Brian also had an excellent game in defence after returning from injury.

On Sunday, Bingley Bees Seconds were back in Leeds, this time at Adel War Memorial Club, for a re-arranged league fixture against rlegation-threatened Leeds Adel Carnegie Fourths, who had only gained three points from 16 games.

Although the Bees had tired legs from the day before, it was still a bitter blow when they found themselves on the losing side.

The visitors' goals came from a diving effort from Jules Carroll and Sian Porter. Leeds added three goals to their seasonal tally of eight.

After the game, the Leeds captain made dire efforts to convince the umpire and opposition that they had not injected the team with players from higher teams but an appeal has been submitted by the Bees team to Yorkshire Hockey Association officials.