Thornton Con Club's Simon Bedford eased through to the next round of the Bradford Snooker Championship singles with a 4-0 win over Anthony Herdsman (Undercliffe Cricket).

His Bradford No 1 team-mate Mark Slater (Gt Horton Cons) also progressed thanks to a 4-0 victory over Richard Hagerty (Calverley Cons), a debutant for the city earlier in the season.

Howard Mawson (Cue Gard-ens) won 4-1 against Malcolm North (Salthorn WMC) and Chris Metcalfe (Windhill Cons) defeated Bradford No 2's Boover Singh (Cuedos) by the same score.

Naz Khan (Cuedos) got the better of Wahid Khan (Mannin-gham Ward), winning 4-1 and Mick Bedford (Cuedos) was made to work hard before seeing off Roy Beckford (Fields SC) 4-3.

Dean Parker (Laisterdyke WMC) had an excellent win against Bradford No 2's captain Hanif Rafiq (Cuedos) 4-2 and Simon Jackson (Upper Bolton Cons) edged out Keish Kumar (Cuedos) 4-3.

Current Bradford Pairs champions Simon Bedford and Chris Brannan (Thornton Cons) comfortably made it in to the second round with a 3-0 victory over P Quantrill and D Oates (Wibsey WMC), while current singles champion Wayne Cooper, together with partner Donald Proctor (Laisterdyke Cricket Club), progressed with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Richard Hagerty and Mally Rushforth (Fields SC).

Paul Young and Steve Moore (Eccleshill Victoria Cons) enjoyed an excellent 3-1 win over much-fancied title contenders Sajid Khan and Ilyas Khan (Cuedos).

There were also good wins for Chris Metcalfe and Matthew Bucham (Windhill Cons), 3-0 against Anthony Herdsman and Anthony Ward (Undercliffe Cricket), and Mick Bedford and James Fisher (Cue Gardens), who triumphed 3-1 over B Doyle and G Doyle (Laisterdyke WMC).

The draw for the next round of both championships will take place at 2pm on Saturday at Cuedos Snooker Club on Bullroyd Lane in Allerton.

In the Yorkshire Inter-District League, Bradford No 1 travel to Castleford on Saturday, hoping to maintain top spot in Division One. Bradford No 2 are at Wakefield No 1 on Sunday night in Division Two.

In billiards, the Bradford side will be looking to pick up their first win of the season with a trip to Huddersfield No 3.

Simon Bedford will be back in action next week in the Pro Ticket Tour at Pontins in Prestatyn, the fifth event out of eight this season.

Bedford is currently second in the rankings where the top eight qualify for the main tour next season.

A good tournament will go a long way to achieving that for the talented left-hander.