Goole Town First XI produced one of their most convincing displays of the season on Saturday afternoon, maintaining their position at the top of Yorkshire Premier League North – Division 1 with a nine-wicket thumping of Woodhouse Grange Second XI at Westfield.

As was the case at Bolton Percy seven days previously, Ashton Nottingham and Oscar Sugden were the architects of victory, the pair racing to Goole’s victory target of 159 with an unbroken partnership of 143 that lasted little over 20 overs.

Another win for Goole means they will travel to local rivals Carlton Towers for their final game of the season with a 27-point cushion over second-placed Harrogate Town Second XI, though a host of Goole’s pursuers remain in the Championship mix with a game in hand over the Westfield outfit whose season will finish a weekend earlier than was originally scheduled.

Under gloomy skies, home captain Kevin Murphy had little hesitation in asking Woodhouse Grange to bat first and was rewarded with an early breakthrough in the fourth over, Philip Stothard offering no shot to a sharp inswinger from Richard Mann that pinned him on his pads in front of his stumps.

Playing against his former club, Mann continued to ask some searching questions of the Woodhouse Grange top order and in tandem with the impressive Aidan Coulbeck, had reduced the visitors to 56-4 by the time both were allowed to take a breather.

Coulbeck finished with 2-26 from his nine overs, including the key wicket of Scott Sheppard who had threatened a big score until the left-armer trapped him lbw for 24, but any thoughts of Goole bringing a premature end to the Woodhouse Grange innings were soon forgotten as Ben Burdett and Matthew Ainley began to the repair the early damage.

Burdett, son of renowned Woodhouse Grange gloveman Mike Burdett, was happy to occupy the crease as Ben Lamb (1-46) settled into this work but Ainley was much more proactive, using his feet to take the attack to Goole’s spinners and edge his side towards a competitive total.

Ainley continued to show intent even after Guy Richardson (1-16) brought Burdett’s stay at the crease to an end on 17 – Ben Shelton catching well stood up to the stumps - and he brought up his half-century with another firm strike down the ground, one of ten boundaries for the right-hander.

Ainley had briefly looked set to take the game away from Goole but when Dave England (1-23) ended his fine resistance – clean bowled on the sweep for 54 – Woodhouse Grange began to fall away, Mann (3-36) returning to the attack to claim his third wicket of the afternoon with some miserly death bowling as the visitors eventually limped to 159-9.

Owing to two earlier rain breaks, Goole began their reply with only 35 overs to reach their target and were given an early scare when Ainley was again in the thick of the action, catching brilliantly at gully as Shelton flashed hard when offered some width from Alex Burton.

Following on from his half-century a week earlier, Nottingham looked in good touch but initially had to play second fiddle to Sugden as the latter galloped to his second 50 in as many games, a host of gorgeous cover-drives and strong clips through the leg-side a hallmark of another chanceless hand that finally delivered the form the opening batsman has been searching for throughout the summer.

If the first half of the partnership was dominated by Sugden, the second was all about Nottingham who recovered from an untimely bout of cramp by crunching the very next ball into the sightscreen for a one-bounce four.

From there on in, Nottingham shifted gears in breathtaking fashion, a glut of powerful hits straight down the ground seeing him cruise into the 40’s and when he sent a rasping pull shot whistling towards the mid-wicket rope before raising his bat towards the home dressing room, the match was all but over.

Sugden, all the while, was content to watch on from the other end as he eased to a fine 68 not out from 90 balls but it was Nottingham who would land the knockout blow, another punch down the ground taking Goole to victory and keeping alive their Championship hopes.

He finished on 74 not out from only 77 balls - a strong last month of the campaign delivering the runs his undoubted latent ability demands - as the two teams shook hands at the end of clash that had promised plenty but ultimately proved to be brutally one-sided thanks to another excellent Goole performance.