A40 too tough for the Strollers to navigate

Bottom team Royal Mail, after last weeks great result against Holland Fen, once again failed to deliver.

Alan Hill put up a good fight for the points when, at 17 ends played, he was tied 18-18 against IBC’s Pete Stringfellow, but then counts of 1-3 from IBC saw them go down 22-18.

It was a similar story from Geoff Taylor who, level playing the last end at 12-12, dropped a count of two to lose 14-12.

Strollers, who hold the second-bottom berth, came up against A40, who throughout the season have struggled for points.

But A40 were on their favourite rinks and Jean Cammack won 18-10 and Arnold Bennett triumphed 30-8.

At the top of the table, Eastenders and Carlton Road both picked up maximum points and the Enders are stilll maintaining an 11-point advantage at the top.

The leaders’s nearest challengers have a tough road ahead in the remaining games to close the gap.

Invaders, in third spot, matched against fourth-placed Holland Fen, picked up the lion’s share of the points, albeit a very narrow win with an overall success of 42-41.

Doing well for Invaders were Chantal Spencer, John Spencer and Rod West, trailing 14-17 before picking up seven shots to one in reply to win 21-18, leaving Martin Tomlin (21-23) one shot short to force a tied game.

Red 5 versus Jolly Farmers saw the mid-table Farmers pick up the aggregate points over the very last ends played.

The overall score was 32-31 and the Farmers’s David Allen, Rita Epton and Sue Hoyles picked up a count of one to win 23-15.

Replying for Red 5 and leading 16-9, Colin Price, Mandy Cook and Ian Smith dropped a count of three and the aggregate slipped into the Farmers’s hands.

In the T&B Containers Division Two, second-placed Breakaways sit three points behind Nomads, but with a superior shot difference.

They are still the favourites to lift the title.

Matched against Dynamics, they delivered maximum points as Ivan Dilley won 21-13 and Gordon Gallichan 28-9.

Nomads played the Golfers and Kate Maddison, Mel Maddison and Ken Burr picked up a last end count of four to win 19-17.

Barry Beagles skipped his rink to a success of 21-13.

Bottom team Vikings met Cosmos, the underdogs winning two points.

Janet Loughran, Ray Loughran and John Stray eased past Bob Thompson to win 17-10.

Replying for Cosmos, Andrew Dunnington collected the aggregate points with a success of 33-11.

Patriarchs versus Poachers saw Shamus Rooney, Keith Woods and Alan Woods winning 20-13 for Patriarchs, which secured the additional points as Mick Dodes’s winning margin for the Poachers was just three shots.

Boston Park and Autos shared the rink and also the aggregate points.

It was a game that the Autos really should have won all six points from.

For the Park, Bernard Woods won 16-14 but replying for the Autos Joyce Townsend triumphed 18-16.

In the Cammacks Division Three Fairways moved to the top with a one-point advantage over the Saxons when they defeated Shipmates.

Anthea Hall skipped her rink to a 22-16 success to win the aggregate by one shot.

The Saxons could only manage to win two points as Josie Isaacs, Pete Isaacs and Pete Sharman won 24-6, but John Melless, John Robinson and Jack Carr replied 29-9 for Bias.

Burtons moved to third and three points behind the leaders when they defeated Phoenix.

Simon Sperring, Mary Barton and Lyn Limb won 17-14 but the Burtons’s Jean Young, Barry Howard and Chris Hill responded 21-9.

Central finished pointless and dropped to fourth as Fred Epton fell to Amateurs’s Ron Spence (16-12) and the Barkwith-Roberts-Mulholland combination fell to Mick Greet (28-10).

U3 on the night were no match for underdogs Hotspurs who produced winning scorecards of 28-5 and 24-12 for skips Shayne Robinson Keith Brown.