Louth Indoor Bowls: Magpies hit back to retake top spot

Their first defeat allowed Highgate Wanderers to nip into top spot, but only for a short while, however, when the two rivals then faced each other.

Wasps beat Magpies in a close match when their trio of Phil Rothwell, Brain Leggett and Derek Tomlin scored four shots on the last end to win 15-10. Highgate Wanderers duly went top by a point with their eighth successive win, 23-11, over Mudlarks.

Having been stung by their first defeat, Magpies soon put it behind to build a 12-3 lead over Highgate thanks mainly to the play of Neil and Debbie Castle. Highgate’s team of Val and Brian Sherry with Barry Taylor hit back and seemed set to go in front when holding six shots on one end, but Magpies skip Mike Norton moved the jack to cut the opposition’s count to just one shot.

It was not over until the final end when Magpies gained two shots to win 14-9 and return to the summit.

A 16-12 win against Yorkies saw The Jays pinch third spot from their opponents and they held their place with a 16-6 victory over Lightning.

Yorkies stayed fourth by beating Hornets 29-4 to go two points clear of Dreamers who nodded off after holding a 11-3 lead against Busy Bs, allowing their opponents to swarm back and score six shots on the last end to win 13-11.

After a slow start Two Plus One have now up to mid-table after an 18-12 win against Hornets and a 17-14 victory over Wasps. Lightning won their first two games of the summer, but have now slumped to the bottom, after eight successive defeats, their latest, 21-3 against In A Minute.

* In the Australian Pairs, Tony Powell and Liz Draper maintained their 100 per cent record in Group A with a simple 22-10 win against R and S Foulds. They lead the table by two points from Vic Ball and Mike Norton who beat D. Blow and P. Thornton 15-8.

John Williams and Joan Foster made it six wins out of six after beating F and J Bradley 19-4 to lead Group B by four points from George Chesman and John Readman who won 22-4 against N and J Brougham.