Red Press missed the chance to hit the top of the league as they suffered a 5-4 defeat to YMEN.
With Greetland Social A on a bye week, a 9-0 victory for Red Press would have seen them take top spot. However, their ascent was halted by a strong YMEN side, who picked up their result of the season with a crucial victory.
YMEN’s chances were boosted by the return of Shamir Bose from injury, whilst Andy Braithwaite made his first appearance of the season and picked up two impressive wins.
Neither could beat Sean Ellis, however, who continued his impressive run of form by picking up three victories. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t secure his team victory as Bose and Braithwaite both defeated Steve Hanson and Seb Frere, whilst Martin Connolly crucially defeated Frere to secure victory. Red Press now trail Greetland by just four points.
Juniors Ben Fillingham and Fraser Riley both picked up three victories for their respective teams but still ended up on the losing side.
Fillingham picked up impressive wins over Paul McKrieth, Gary Foster and Mick Kosmowsky, however his team-mates Alan Veal and Dave Bowers couldn’t register a victory as Panthers went down 6-3.
Meanwhile, superb victories for Riley over Dave Wood and Ian Tweedale had given Central a solid platform to build on against Warriors. However, Warriors’ pair responded with two wins each over Mushtaq Ahmed and Malcolm Fowler whilst Bob Sanderson defeated Ahmed to secure victory.
Greetland Social B picked up their second win of the season with a hard-fought victory over Grasshoppers. Adrian Walker had given Grasshoppers the lead with a five-end victory over Chris Lowson, but two wins for Gilly Broadbent over Ken Mirfield and Walker either side of Barry Drain’s impressive win over Jake Clarke gave them a 3-1 lead. However, Grasshoppers responded with Clarke defeating Lowson and Broadbent, whilst Mirfield picked up an important five-end win over Drain to give his side a 4-3 lead.
However, Greetland weren’t going to be denied, with Drain and Lowson beating Walker and Mirfield respectively to secure victory.
Tradesmen made it three wins from three as they cruised past BT 9-0. Jonathan Crossley, Joshua Reynolds and Stuart Sykes were too strong for the bottom side as Tradesmen moved to fifth.
Division 2
Central 2 moved to the top of the league for the first time this season following a 5-4 victory over Rams. They were made to work hard by their opponents, who threatened to cause an upset when Dave Melbourne defeated Steve Thomas to tie the match at 3-3. However, Eric Greenwood and Thomas beat Ronnie McNamara and Dave Stretton respectively to secure victory. They lead Hotshots by two points, who have a game in hand and face Central next week.
Dolphins picked up their first win of the season in emphatic style as they brushed aside Central 3 8-1. Brilliant trebles for Ken Scott and Dave Blackburn plus an impressive double for Denise Scott secured a morale-boosting victory. Steve Caufield replied with victory over Denise for Central.
Victory for Dolphins moved them off the bottom of the table, with Tribal 1 being the unfortunate team to take that ‘crown’ after an agonising 5-4 loss to Team G. Tribal held the lead three times and claimed a 4-2 advantage when Michael Bush defeated James Dawber. However, Team G claimed the last three ends, which included Barbara Gee superbly taking out Bush, to secure victory.
Oakland Raiders secured their fourth win of the season, defeating Ovenden Sports 5-4. Ovenden battled hard to secure what appeared beforehand to be an unlikely victory, and drew the game level at 4-4 when Saj Mohammed, who had already defeated Steve Horrocks, overcame Tony Hemmingway. However, Horrocks secured his second win of the evening over Terry Allington to wrap up the match.
Division 3
A quiet week in Division 3 saw just one match played. It was Rainbow 2 who prevailed, securing a 6-3 victory over two-man Netamatix. Despite Martyn Halliday securing three victories, Rainbow’s trio of Billy Wragg, Glyn Kershaw and Peter Davis all beat Tom Sunderland to secure victory.
Ladies
Ruby took a small step towards securing the Ladies League title with a 9-0 victory over Diamond. The trio of Alex Borberly, Karen Levin and Ellen Adams all claimed three victories each in a victory that moved them 11 points clear at the top of the division.
Their nearest challenges are Sapphire and Emerald, who are tied in second place. Emerald defeated Aquamarine 5-3 after both teams played with two competitors, with Sophie Yung winning all three once again.
Meanwhile, Sapphire defeated Amethyst 6-3 to move level with Emerald. Despite Chrissy Sykes winning all three of her matches, Amy Fillingham, Abbie Parker and Christine Beaumont won two games apiece to secure victory.
Player of the week – Ken Scott – secured three wonderful victories as Dolphins claimed their first win of the season.
Barry Snowden
December 17, 2014