Having previously summed up Division One of the Leicester & District League as a three-horse race for the title we can look further afield at the other four sections and find quite a difference in their various status, from almost out of sight front-runners to more than half still with a realistic chance to top theirs.
Syston Casuals first team are at the top of Division Two with around a one-match buffer having drawn with Regent Sport to finish their first half. Martin Bolton was on top of his game for Regent with an excellent maximum to remain at the top of the individual averages on 89 per cent. Supporting was Kevin Sanderson with two while Richard Anderson came very close without reward when he lost two in the fifth game. John Szostak won two for Syston.
Electricity III, meanwhile, were finishing their first half with a 10-0 thrashing of a two-man Syston Casuals seconds with father and son Steve and Harry White, together with Richard Martin, in great form and now sit second. Just behind are Knighton Park IV who beat Arnesby 9-1 when Jack Rogers and Rayan Kotecha both recorded maximums, Kinar Sheth two.
Nomads have not lost at the top of Division Three yet and easily overcame their own second team 10-0. They have a four-man team with Cliff Smith, Martin Taylor and Zaheer Mohamed on duty this time and Andy Searle the other member. Having lost only one so far, Mohamed is top of the individual averages.
Kevin Trueman won three in Great Glen’s 7-3 victory over Knighton Park VI and are five points down on the leaders. Park’s Steve Bessant beat Alex Mason along the way, the latter now having lost two to lose ground on Mohamed. Both Bessant and Mason took two in this match.
Running Glen close are Electricity IV, who beat Goons 6-4 when Sheriff Makhani won three and Chris Woodward two. John Jacques won two for Goons.
Division Four is where the runaway occurs with Blaby and Whetstone II, having finished their first half early, are way ahead of anyone else, but there is an excellent battle for the runners-up spot behind them with Knighton Park VIII, Desford Village III, Park’s tenth team and Electricity V all in the mix.
And Nomads III are not out of it yet, although they only came away with a draw against Knighton Park VIII, for whom Oscar White notched a fine maximum, winning the doubles with Max Huggins who won one. For Nomads, both Roger Burley and Laszlo Kocsis took two and Steph Burley one.
Division Five is the most competitive of the lot by a long way with no less than eight of the 11 teams still in with a genuine chance of taking this title, and this includes Winstanley Wizards II who, although eighth, have Dan Andrews in sparkling form who should yet have a say on who wins if they don’t.
Lutterworth Rotary finished before the rest and then sat back to watch them all squabble amongst themselves with first one then another likely candidate getting beaten.
Regent Sports IV were favourites a month ago but have lost two of their last three matches to Knighton Park XI and Electricity VI, both themselves in the mix. In the Sparks’ case much will depend on how many times the undefeated Jason Prescott plays in this division as he is way below his high ability level and he is unbeaten in two sorties into higher sections of the league.