We had four mats in use for our Barnet League competition this week.
Mat one had our third and fourth place teams battling it out for that third spot. Northiam East’s Jan, Jeff and Martin playing Greenwood Hawks Barry, Val and Darren. Hawks got off to a good start with three singles. East then got going, taking two singles to be 2 – 3 down after five ends. Hawks attacked taking a four followed by a double they had extended their lead to 9 – 2 after seven ends. East came back for a single but Hawks extended their lead with a triple on end nine for a 12 – 3 lead. East came back on the following end and reduced Hawks lead with a four. Hawks held the next end for a single, with the following two ends going for a single apiece Hawks had a 14 – 8 lead with two ends to play. The penultimate end saw East hold a triple to pull back to 11 – 14 down. East took the last end as well but only managed to take a double giving Hawks the narrow win at 14 – 13.
Mat two had our second and fifth placed teams playing each other. Shillington Black’s Paul, Tony and Julia were playing Letchworth Lions Andrew, Margaret and Alan H. Blacks started well with two singles and followed this with a four. The Lions then got started by taking end four for a double. Blacks came straight back, holding a single on end five for a 7 – 2 lead. Lions attacked again and held two singles. Blacks held another single and were maintaining their lead at 8 – 4 after eight ends. Lions pulled closer with a triple on end nine, Then Blacks held another single to be two shots ahead. End eleven saw Lions hold a double and it was all square at 9 apiece with four ends to play. The last four ends were fiercely fought but Lions managed to take all four of them for singles for a 13 – 9 win.
Mat three had Fairfield Falcons Gordon, Gill and Bev playing Shillington Red’s Tom Carol and Neil. The Reds started this game the way they meant to go on. Taking a hotshot six they followed this with two triples and a double for a 14 – 0 lead after four ends. The Falcons then took their first end of the game for a double. Reds replied by taking a triple, a single and a four and had a 22 – 2 lead at the half-way stage. End nine and Falcons held a single but the Reds continued their run by taking two more singles, two doubles and a triple. Falcons came back on the last end to hold a single but Reds had a good win at 31 – 4.
Mat four had Harpenden Eagles Sue, Deidre and Beryl take on our league leaders Greenwood Peckers Colin, Sue and Brian. Peckers got going by taking a double on the first end. They followed this by taking the next ten ends to be 28 – 0 up. The Eagles then got hold of the mat and took three doubles in a row. The last end saw Peckers stop their run and take a final double for a 30 – 6 win.
Greenwood Peckers remain at the top of the table and after this week and are beginning to look uncatchable. The four places below them remain unchanged although the Lions and Hawks are starting to pull away from East and Black. Shillington Red’s win sees them climb two places up the table. With Reds playing two games next week could they climb even further next week.