Trees chopped down asLegion A close in on title

The RBL side need a point from their final game to be champions.

Legion A’s winners were Rob Roylance, Adam Stevenson, Michael Holmes Parker, Dave Stacey King, Steve Wood and Craig Johnstone in the singles. There were pairs wins for Roylance/Stevenson and Wood/Johnstone.

Second-placed Liberal kept the pressure on the leaders with a 6-2 win at Bentinck Nomads, wrapping the points up after only five legs. Allen Shaw, Richard Deakin, Lewis Smith, Dave Horan and the pairing of Shaw and Deakin took Liberal’s legs. Gary Smith won the last for Liberal after Nomads pulled a couple back.

Half Moon moved third after a 7-1 rout of Chequers. Ian Flint took leg four for Chequers, but other than that it was all Moon as Cliff Thompson, Steve McIntyre, Joe Etherington, Arthur Galloway and Richard Smith took the singles legs with Thompson/Smith and Etherington/Daniel Galloway winning the pairs.

Cup winners Royal British Legion B went fourth, despite dropping a point against Spot On A.

Spot On went 3-0 up through Dion Nangle, Phil Gormley and Gormley/Ian Wikeley. Malc Grocock pulled a leg back for Legion, only for John Whyley to restore Spot On’s three-leg advantage.

Legion snatched a point with wins for Grocock/Dean Dymock on pairs then Stuart Platts and Dymock on singles.

Chequers B shared the spoils in a 4-4 draw with Spot On B after leading 4-1.

Roger Green put Spot in front before Kev Worley and Adam Fowkes won on singles and teamed up to take the pairs to put Chequers 3-1 up.

Danny Butler increased Chequers’ lead, but Spot hit back as PJ Singh/Ranj Singh clinched the pairs and George Roy and PJ Singh won their respective singles to secure an unlikely point.

At George Street, the Ladies lost 6-2 against Portland Arms. Green Dragon fought back from 3-0 down to gain a point in a 4-4 draw against Bentinck Newbies, the latter’s 11th draw of the season.

The league pairs final will be between Craig Johnstone/Steve Wood, of Legion A, and Gary Hipkiss/Scott Oxford, of Portland.

Johnstone/Wood defeated holders Dean Dymock/Malc Grocock 3-2 in the semi-final, with Wood and Grocock both hitting eight-ball clearances. In the other semi-final, Hipkiss/Oxford beat Adam Stevenson/Michael Holmes Parker 3-1.