Advantage Onchan
Onchan A moved within touching distance of yet another Isle of Man Bank Division One title after two hard fought victories over tough opposition sees them move eighteen points clear at the top.
They hosted Douglas A on Monday night and with Douglas being the only team to beat them this year knew they had a fight on their hands. The Villa men put in a spirited performance in a match which could have gone either way but fell just short on this occasion losing out 7-3.
The champions then travelled to Marown A for the hugely anticipated top of the table clash, with the Crosby men needing to make up some ground on their rivals to stand any chance of snatching the title for themselves. Marown would have been pleased with how the week started as their 9-1 win away at Castletown A had seen them already claw two points back on Onchan.
The early stages of the old firm match were as even you would expect and with things finally balanced at three apiece it looked like the home side might just pull it off. It wasn’t to be though as Onchan’s tail showed their strength in depth as they took the remaining games to seal a 7-3 victory, and all but assure themselves of the silverware.
Port St Mary A are the form team at the moment and after a brilliant week have moved into third twelve points behind Marown with a game in hand. They began the week with a brilliant 7-3 away win over high flying South Ramsey A and backed this up with a solid 8-2 home win over Castletown A.
Port’s primary aim will be to secure third spot but if they can make use of the extra game and Marown falter you just never know they might just pull off a massive upset and break into the top two.
South now find themselves in fourth place just two points above Douglas A after the sides won 7-3 and 9-1 respectively on Wednesday night. The top five are thirty points clear of North Ramsey in sixth, who are themselves 20 points clear of seventh, so whilst I don’t think anyone else can displace the top teams the order is still all to play for and Douglas will have their eyes on fourth spot.
South Ramsey B are turning the screw at the top of Division Two and a 9-1 victory away at Marown B backed up with a solid 6-4 showing against Port St Mary B will do their title aspirations no harm at all.
Port B are flying high too and their own 6-4 victory over Ballaugh B keeps them in the hunt for main honours. Douglas B need to relight the fire behind their challenge if they want to be at the top of the pile come September after they dropped points going down 7-3 away at North Ramsey B in their only match of the week.
Douglas C caused an upset in Division 3 on Tuesday as they beat runaway leaders Onchan C 7-3 at the Villa Mariina. It’s hard to believe that this high flying Douglas side picked up only one win in the final fixture of last season as they are now a match for anyone they play.