Bingley Bees’ men climbed to second place in Yorkshire Division Six North with a comfortable 3-1 win at Leeds Adel Carnegie Fifths.

For once the Bees did not score in the opening minutes, as has become their custom, and instead they had to wait until midway through the first half for skipper Ben Clough to put them ahead through a penalty flick.

They held on to that slender lead until the interval and then came out strongly for the second half, impressing with periods of possession and slick passing.

A well-placed strike from Joe Manning found the bottom corner of the home team’s goal to give the Bees a good sight of the finish line.

Carnegie responded well to pull a goal back and pressed hard to get a leveller. But a rapid counter-attack led to Dennis Valentiner-Branth unleashing a rocket reverse-stick shot which confirmed Bingley’s fourth win in six league matches this season.

The winless Bees’ ladies senior team had to settle for a 1-1 draw at City of York Seconds – their fourth stalemate in six Yorkshire Premier games.

But Bingley Seconds scored an excellent 5-1 victory against Batley to keep them out of the Division Four relegation zone.

A change in formation added to the strength of the second-team forward line and it paid dividends, with Sian Porter opening the scoring after just 11 minutes from a Jo Geldard cross.

It was 3-0 by half-time and the Bees went on to dominate after the interval as well, before conceding the only reply in the last five minutes through a lapse in concentration.

The other Bingley goals were shared by Emma Hinkles, Jane Sharkey, player of the match Geldard and defender Sharon Stamp.