Close battles going on

While the second and third placed sides strengthened their positions in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling Club with two more victories apiece, there is still a close battle going on for sixth to ninth spots in the table.

The weekend began with a set of three fixtures that finished with a total of only 11 points separating the participants.

Opening the session were sixth placed Parkers against Outsiders who are currently third and it was the latter that came out on top by the margin of five chalks.

The victors then took on Seven-Up who are directly behind them in the standings and after a share of the games it was a double success on the day for Outsiders by 107 to 104.

Back into the fray came Parkers but they missed out once again, this time in another fairly low scoring tussle with Seven-Up, which was settled by just three points.

This all saw Outsiders stretch their advantage over rivals Seven-Up by 18 points, whilst Parkers consolidated their sixth spot, with the two teams behind them due to play 24 hours later.

Results for Saturday, February 3: Parkers 112 (2), Outsiders 117 (4); Outsiders 107 (3), Seven-Up 104 (3); Seven-Up 102 (3), Parkers 99 (3).

Sunday’s gang featured two teams divided at the start by a gap of six points in favour of Bowl Rollers over Erin Porters, but finished with both on 2110 apiece and with the southern outfit ahead with less chalks against.

This was a set of fixtures reversed from the opening day of the campaign and the only change was the margins of victory for the winners.

First it was second placed Mooragh Lakers who increased their successful gap to 35 over Rollers; whilst Porters extended the winning difference against basement side Bits n Bobs to 49.

Next up Porters reduced the deficit against Lakers down to eight, but even though Rollers recorded their second and the league’s 24th maximum they slipped behind their southern rivals, both with two to play.

Waiting in the wings in ninth position are Govags and they will need to increase their average if they want to climb above Porters and Rollers,

Lakers meantime increased the margin between second and third by a further six points, but in turn are now over 100 behind runaway leaders Jacks Off.

Results for Sunday, February 4: Mooragh Lakers 122 (5), Bowl Rollers 87 (1); Bits n Bobs 69 (1), Erin Porters 118 (5); Erin Porters 101 (3), Mooragh Lakers 108 (3); Bowl Rollers 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 73 (0).

A gang of 21 braved the cold conditions for the midweek round robin and these threesomes took the leading positions: Steve Parker, Lil Smith and Bryan Corner (winners); Tricia Bull, Philippa Taylor and Jeff Wilson (second) and in third were Mike Ware, Trevor Barker and Vicky Lloyd-West.