Engineers Overturn Lodge Farmers

The top of the table clash ended with Engineers beating nearest rivals Lodge Farmers to open up what could be a decisive gap with just three games left for each team.

In four of the five legs, there was little to choose between the sides with the biggest winning leg margin being just three pins as the teams won two legs each. It was leg two though which was Lodge Farmers undoing when, having made a below par score of 59, Engineers replied with 75. That opened up a 15 pin advantage for Engineers who were then able to match their opponents for the rest of the game and see them top the league table by six points. Scores of 38 each from Luke Saunders and Brandon Kelso, and 37 from Craig Sears were recorded for Engineers, while disappointed Lodge Farmers had Rachel Morris, Glyn Morley & Tim Jones making 36, 35, & 34 respectively.

After beating Lodge Farmers the previous week with a good pin total, Bernie’s Bolts loss to Jumbo Jets was surprising especially as The Jets had struggled to score well despite winning their last three games. So for Jets this was a return to form notching their highest match score of the season and a fourth consecutive win. Up by eight pins after leg one, they took each of the next three legs for a 34 pin lead at that stage. Jets only blip was a poor last leg score but it still left The Bolts wanting 90 pins for victory. The Bolts did win that leg for a consolation point but were unable to chase down those 90 pins. Leading the way for Jumbo Jets were Rob Quartly with 40 (incl 13 stack), Darren Summers 39 (13 stack), & Liz Rowberry 36. For The Bolts, Paul Blayney made 38, Andy Gill-Smith 35, and Dan Goodman & Craig McSweeney 33 apiece.

Nomads got back on the winning track with a comfortable success against C&G Show. Both teams scored 58 pins in leg one to share the one point on offer but that was the best it got for C&G Show. Nomads took legs two and three narrowly to lead by just eight pins, and when C&G Show made a good fourth leg score of 63, topped that with a 72 pin total to build a game winning 17 pin lead. Nomads last leg score of 68 left their opponents wanting 86 to win, a total which proved well out of reach. Nomads were lead home by Mac Eaton with 41 pins, Alan Cummings 38 and Andrew Coombes 35. For luckless C&G Show, best were Dave Orton making 33 and 32 each from Angela Guest and Aaron Evans.

Results

Engineers 333 (8pts) v Lodge Farmers 316 (3pts)

Jumbo Jet Set 334 (9pts) v Bernie’s Bolts 315 (2pts)

Nomads 326 (9.5pts) v C&G Show 296 (1.5pts)