League leaders Sowerby West End (B Morgan, Pat Skene, Mick Skwarek and Lorraine Hirst) took on defending champions Nomads (Philip Holroyd, John Armitage, Gareth Coates and Scott Haynes) in the first match this week. Hirst was paired with Haynes in the first game and scored the first seven chalks but Haynes took the next eight to hit the front. Hirst struck back immediately with a seven break and Haynes countered with three more but was only to manage one further point as Hirst ran out 21-12. Skwarek after suffering his first defeat last week was looking to put that right this week in his game with Holroyd. However, it was Holroyd who was always just in front, going on to win 21-14. Both men winning the same number of ends but Skwarek never counted a pair. Morgan and Armitage exchanged the jack for the first few ends but from five a piece Armitage had reached thirteen before Morgan scored again, moving on to eight. Armitage scored three more and Morgan counted a single for 16-9. Two pairs for the Nomad saw him arrive at all but, Morgan counted a pair of his own for eleven but that was the end – 21-11 in favour of the Nomads. The final game saw Skene fall behind at the start and she never recovered as Coates went on to record a win to single figures. An overall 17-10 win for defending champions Nomads.
Ian Johnson & David Armitage before todays game.
Hanging Heaton (Dean Scarth, David Armitage, Steve Pinfield and Ian Smith) played Clayton (Alan Peel, Tommy Harney, Tony Riley and Ian Johnson) did their league position a power of good as they ran out 18-11 winners. There were wins for Smith, Armitage and Pinfield, Harney replied for Clayton.
Cleckheaton Sports (Paul Fincher, Richard Bentley, John Ineson and Ian Poutney) were paired with Spen Victoria (Ken Jackson, Gerald Bromley, Barry Firth and Brian Thompson), both teams needing the points. Poutney never looked like slipping against Jackson as he led 7-1 and 11-3, finally running out for 21-8. The second game was altogether different as Bentley and Bromley exchanged points to ten across from where Bentley made a seven break. Bromley counted three singles but that was as good as it got as Bentley finished it off – 21-13. Ineson and Firth had an almighty struggle, exchanging points to eight across, Firth led 15-10, Ineson reached twelve, Firth moved on to eighteen. It was there that the wheels fell off for Firth as Ineson counted nine unanswered points to snatch victory 21-18. Fincher and Thompson was another game that was too close to call at the midway stage. Fincher had led 10-3 and 14-10 but Thompson took the next two chalks for 14-12 and looked sure to score at the next end but Fincher pinched it on a measure and went on from there to record a 21-15 win. A final result of 20-9 will move Cleckheaton up to mid table.
Lindley Libs (Richard Saunders, Daniel Bousfield, Mark Sykes and Pete Hopkinson) took on the newly promoted Crosshills (Ken Brenkley, Kevin Burnett, Barry Turnbull and John Parkin). Saunders was always struggling against Brenkley and went down to single figures. Bousfield shot into an eight nil lead against Parkin who slowly started to find a length and looked to have given himself a chance at 16-12 but Bousfield pushed on and recorded a 21-15 win. In the third game Sykes and Turnbull battled for dominance and Sykes must have thought he had won that battle as he moved from six across to lead 10-6 and 16-11. Points were exchanged and at 18-16 Sykes made a pair to move on to all but, Turnbull wasn’t finished, a single, a pair and a further single brought up all but across, a good lead by Turnbull, beaten by Sykes saw the game swing back in favour of the Lindley man. In the final game Hopkinson was always just in front of Burnett until at 17-14 Burnett crafted a seven break to record the second win for Crosshills 21-17. Two winners each but Crosshills won the match 17-14 with the better scoring losers.
There were no Saturday games this week due to snow and frost.
There were also no Plate games this Tuesday due to green maintenance.
Kevin Burnett takes instructions from his captain
"Good Win Lad, see what you can do when you listen to the skip"
