Castletown A go clear at the top.

The highlight of the eighth game of the 2017 Season had to be the top of the table clash between Castletown A and Onchan A at the very scenic Castletown Bowling Green.

As expected this was a close match with the Castletown lads running out 5-3 winners in a match that saw some very good bowls played and left Castletown A top of the League.

While the above match was being played the Castletown B Team travelled to the East to play Onchan B Team and this time it was the Onchan side that ran out 5-3 winners. This match saw some very close games with Paul Bailey beating Juan Kermode 21-20 and Phillip Watterson of Onchan losing 20-21 to Dave Hollingworth.

Port St Mary B travelled to the Villa to play Douglas A and put up a great show in holding the hosts to a 4-4 draw while the Douglas B Team travelled the other way to play Port St Mary A with the southerners winning 7-1 where Bob Banning was the only winner for the visitors when he beat Brian Lowe 21-14.

In the West of the Island Peel Sunset A beat Peel Sunset B 7-1 while the westerners C Team lost 6-2 to North Ramsey B.

Farther down the Coast to the North we saw South Ramsey playing a very strong Nobles A side with the men from Douglas winning 5-3 and across the Town at the Mooragh Park we saw the home side of North Ramsey A defeat Port Erin 6-2.

Ballaugh A beat Finch Hill 5-3 and the Ballaugh B Team travelled to Crosby where the Marown Team were 7-1 winners.

As we came to Game 9 we saw the two Castletown Teams playing the two North Ramsey Teams with Castletown B winning 5-3 on their home green against North Ramsey A and the Castletown A Team beating North Ramsey B 6-2 at the Mooragh Park.

Douglas A travelled to sunny Peel to play Peel Sunset A with the home side winning 6-2 and back at the Villa the Douglas B side went down to a similar 6-2 score line with wins from Bob Banning and Vic Sewell for the home side.

Peel C went down the west coast to Ballaugh and lost 6-2 against the Ballaugh B Team and the Ballaugh A side got a good result after a long trek to Port Erin where they came away with a 6-2 victory.

Finch Hill hosted South Ramsey and this ended in a 4-4 draw while up the road at Nobles Park Nobles B lost 6-2 to Nobles A .

Two of the top teams met at Onchan Park where Onchan A used the home advantage to beat Port S.t Mary A 5-3 and back in Port St Mary the Onchan B team also beat the Port St Mary men 5-3.

So after last Tuesdays games Castletown A have established a two point lead from Nobles A and Onchan A with Port St Mary A one point behind in fourth place.

In the Individual Merit there is now a clear leader after nine games and this is Chris Oates of Port St Mary A but there is a long way to go until the end of the Season and there will be many twists and turns along the way.