A VASTLY-improved afternoon showing helped Bradford climb to third place in the 41st Yorkshire Inter-District Team Championship at Cookridge Hall last Sunday.

Only East Riding, in eighth place, were behind Bradford after the morning's play, but, aided by a day's best equalling round of 69 by Chris Green (Cleckheaton), the wool capital climbed four places, which team captain Tim Wade and vice-captain Cec Bloice called "a fair reflection on our performance".

With Ben Mountain out with a broken finger, Rob Malloy (Northcliffe) came into the team, while James Darcy was upgraded to reserve.

Wade said: "The day was overcast and cool with a slight breeze, but the course was in good condition with pin positions that were going to make the players think, which is as it should be.

"We had one or two disasters in the morning at the third hole, basically as a result of poor course management.

"Luckily, we weren’t the only team who had the same problem, but this is where these competitions are won and lost by making fewer mistakes than your opponents.

"After the first round, we were in seventh place with scores of 76, 77, 78, 75, 76 and 75, with only East Riding behind us."

Wade added: "There was a huge improvement in the afternoon, led by Chris (Green), whose 69 equalled the best score of the day.

"Rob had a 72 and Andy (Town) and Terry (Brushwood) both had 73s but Jack (Laybourne) had too many bogeys in his 79 and Dane (Bairstow) took 80.

"With the afternoon scores, which were 11 strokes better than the morning, we climbed up to third, which Cec and myself considered a fair reflection on our performance and better than our fifth place last year.

"Next year the event is hosted by the Bradford Union and will be held at Bingley St Ives and we are hoping that it will be to our advantage."

Scores: 1 Sheffield 881, 2 York 890, 3 Bradford 903 (Chris Green 76, 69; Andrew Town 75, 73; Terry Brushwood 75, 73; Rob Malloy 77, 72; Jack Laybourne 76, 79; Dane Bairstow 78, 80), 4 Harrogate 905, 5 East Riding 907, 6 Leeds 914, 7 Halifax-Huddersfield 916, 8 Teesside 928. Individual: 1 Tom Smith (Teesside) 69, 70=139.