FIRST-HALF goal power steered Northern Counties East League first division leaders Pickering Town to a six of the best show.

The Pikes toppled visitors Hatfield Main 3-0, all the goals coming in a first-half blitz, to strengthen the hosts' championship challenge.

The victory - their sixth on the bounce - puts Pickering in perfect fettle for two games in the next five days that could determine whether they will get their hands on the first division crown. Tomorrow they meet second-placed Hall Road Rangers, while on Saturday they tackle Gedling Town, also harbouring title pretensions.

Said manager Jimmy Reid: "If we can win these next two matches then it will be a big knock back to those teams' hopes as well as lifting our own.

"The most important thing is that we while we are only playing well in patches we are still winning. Other clubs around us are beginning to drop points, so we have to keep the run going."

Pikes' conquest of Hatfield Main demonstrated that inconsistency.

In the first-half they were unstoppable with three quick-fire goals from Mark Wood, Phil O'Reilly and Alex Wilgrass.

But after the half-time break it was another story. "It was a poor second-half. Anyone who paid would have wanted their money back," quipped Reid.

At the other end of the table there was welcome respite for Tadcaster Albion.

The club, who are battling against the longest fixture backlog in the division, scrambled further from the drop zone with a valuable 2-0 triumph over visiting Pontefract Collieries. On target for Albion were Billy Higgs and Dave Ward.

In the NCEL premier division Selby Town avenged a 4-2 defeat by Staveley last month to win 3-1.

The Robins never looked back once they took the lead after only three minutes. A Staveley corner was headed clear by Dominic Moyles, the knockdown collected by Peter Collier.

He speared a through ball to Adam Clayton, who expertly scored.

Collier was the next to score when in the 20th minute and the game was effectively sealed when Craig Whittington tucked away another pass from the probing Collier.

But the Robins' domination petered out in the second-half, which was only seven minutes old when Staveley trimmed the deficit with a goal from Clarke.

Harrogate Railway were shaded out of any plunder at Thackley. Railway led through an early goal from Liam Gray only then to be hit by a double-blast.

When The Rail levelled through Ian McLean a share of the spoils seemed a distinct possibility until Thackley's Sugden glanced in an 80th-minute winner.

Goole Town also suffered on their travels beaten 2-1 at Osett Albion.

Former England international Chris Waddle could have a surprise marksman in direct opposition to his Worksop Town ranks tomorrow.

Waddle's latest club tackle the UniBond League Chairman's Cup semi-final at Harrogate Town, whose goalkeeper Chris Hill was on target in mesmeric style in Saturday's UniBond division one share-all with Gretna.

After being beaten by a fourth-minute penalty from the visitors' Mark Dobie, Hill returned the compliment in spades when an 85-yard clearance took one bounce on the wind over his opposite number Henry Smith for a bizarre leveller.

Soon after Town took the lead when Michael Ord scored. But Town's victory bid buckled when Gretna levelled five minutes from time through danger-man Dobie.

Nestle Rowntree had a first-half to savour, a second to forget as they breezed to a 4-1 battering of Beeston St Anthony's to press their West Yorkshire League title claims.

'Trees swept their visitors aside in a one-way opening 45 minutes in which they hit four goals without reply. Brent Terry began the undoing of Beeston when his pace took him to clear to score.

There followed a brace of goals from Matty Wain before the pick of the game, a thunder-footed finish from Rob Ellis after he shook off the attentions of two defenders.

So far in front by the interval 'Trees were unable to hit similar heights in a second-half in which the only highlight was a goal from Beeston.

"Where we created ten chances in the first-half we probably only had one in the second, but by then we had already won the game," said manager Jim Collis, who is now awaiting news of the extent of the knee ligament injury to midfielder Mark Watkinson.

Lowly York RI went down 4-2 to Bardsey, while Knaresborough Town were sent spinning to a 6-0 reverse at Sandy Lane.

Pickering Under-19s countered from a 2-0 half-time deficit to earn a point against Garforth Town with replies from Nathan Milner and Anthony Moorhouse in the Northern Alliance League.

Updated: 11:50 Monday, April 02, 2001