Three Huddersfield clubs are this week celebrating Pennine League success.

Newsome Panthers led the way with a 32-20 Championship I home triumph over Odsal Sedbergh, while First Division Lindley Swifts powered past Sharlston Rovers A 34-6 and Underbank Rangers maintained their strong Second Division title challenge with a 24-14 win at West Craven Warriors.

That win for Rangers could prove hugely significant, with main title rivals CK Vikings having suffered a shock 22-20 defeat at strugglers Kellingley Welfare.

That result and Underbank’s win at West Craven means the men from The Cross are now five points clear at the top of the table.

At the heart of Rangers’ latest success was captain Martin Wilson, who produced a stunning man-of-the-match performance to help his side make it nine League wins out of 10, while National Conference League player Luke Pogson marked his debut at No6 with an influential showing.

And their contributions proved vital, with West Craven having given Underbank a real run for their money when they met in Holmfirth a couple of weeks earlier.

Within two minutes Pogson was making his presence felt, starting the move for Wilson to throw a huge to the ever-reliable Joe Bellas to power over from 20m.

Dominic Horn continued with the kicking duties and made the conversion from an acute angle appear simple.

By the 12th minute the lead was doubled as great interchange play between Pogson, Horn and Jayden Covell-Wood enabled Tom to score his customary try of the week

At that stage, Underbank were simply unplayable, and it was no surprise when Covell-Wood collected a towering kick and embarked on a barnstorming run to feed Bellas for his second try of the match between to make it 18-0 midway through the half. A big score looked to be on the cards.

But, as happened in the previous meeting, the Warriors regrouped and cut the deficit to 18-6 by the break – although it would have been reduced even more had it not been for some crucial last-ditch tackles from Lucas France and Nathan Lewis.

Fortunately, Underbank regained their grip on the contest in the 55th minute, with the in-form Covell-Wood charging over for an unconverted score following a good spell of Bank pressure.

Yet again, West Craven failed to wave the white flag and crossed for their second try, with forwards Morgan Blakely and Oliver Moorhouse needing to bellow out the instructions to keep the pack together.

That helped Bank hold their nerves, with Horn giving his team some valuable breathing space with a penalty with 10 minutes remaining.

In the 79th minute the visitors’ defence did crack and West Craven scored the final points of the game to make the score 24-14 to seal a victory in a game in which Underbank deserved to take the spoils, with their defensive work and fitness again shining through.