Just three weeks to go, and to be honest, the division winners look pretty nailed-on at this stage - Lads’ Night Out & Cross Keys might not mathematically be champions, but their points leads now look unassailable. The real interest remaining lies in who will go down from Div 1 & who else will come up from Div 2. The relegation dogfight is between Alsorts, Splitz ‘n’ Giggles & Best Sellers, and the first two of these couldn’t be separated on Thursday night. The draw did neither any good, Splitz staying rooted to the bottom with Alsorts just 3 points ahead having played a game more. The game went down to a straight shootout between the anchors in the deciding 5th - Rob Perry stepped up needing 4 pins for victory, but only managed 3 and the points were shared. Richard Greenaway hit four 8s on his way to 36, the best of the match. Best Sellers came out 6-4 winners against Last Six, which didn’t help them hugely in their efforts to avoid the drop - the Six are nominally in the relegation fight themselves, but look to have a big enough lead over their rivals to feel pretty safe. Sellers were very solid, scoring between 35 & 38 across the five legs; the Six were very good in winning two legs (38 & 40) but off-colour in losing the rest. Jeremy Denton’s 37 helped his team take 4 points, whilst Mark Hoskins (36) & Ian Saunders (34) drove the win for Sellers. Rollin’ Pins & Spare Ribs are battling it out to replace one of the above in Division 1, and with the Pins on a rest week, Spare Ribs spurned the chance to overtake them in Division 2, losing 6-4 to Maclean Smilers. There was little in this one, with just a pin between the team totals at the end, but Smilers sneaked the win, thanks in part to James Barlow’s 33. Ribs drew level with the Pins in the table but Bell’s gang have a better average and a game in hand so will be hopeful of sealing the second promotion spot. Elsewhere in Div 2, Late Knights thumped Newcomers 8-2 for their fourth win this season, and moved level on points with Sianie’s Angels in the Wooden Spoon battle. Knights took the game by the scruff after a loss in the first and Newcomers didn’t really muster much of a challenge, with none of their number reaching 30. Paul Ingrem did reach that rubicon in an otherwise low-scoring game. Cross Keys walloped Big ‘Uns by the same score to all but confirm their promotion, Big ‘Uns stumbling to a miserable 137 pins in the game. Keys were untroubled apart from leg 4, where a slip in their middle order allowed Big ‘Uns to steal 2 points. Ray Shergold & Darren Carrington were top hole with 32s. Back in the top flight, we saw a bit of jostling amongst the contenders for the silver medals, with young pretenders Absolutely Skittled stealing a march on long-time challengers Gutter Nutters. Three legs were decided by a single pin, with AbSki winning these 2-1 to ensure a 6-4 victory to put themselves level with the Nutters, but with a game in hand. Dan Cakebread made light of the journey from Dover with 35 for Quinn’s team; Dave Norris toppled 34 for Skittled. Individual performance of the week was arguably WIll Marsden’s double spare in Young & Bald’s 8-2 pummelling of Birdies, Goals & Spares. Will hit two 12 spares in legs 2 & 3 to fire YAB over the line with leg totals of 41 & 38. His teammates backed him with 38 & 39 legs in the 4th & 5th to cement the win, though BGS will wonder how they lost the last by just one. Despite all the spares, Will only finished with 34, a score matched by teammates Derek Wilkins & Karl Dawson. Skittler of the match was, in fact, Sam Webb, whose 37 was his best of the season. BGS are still well-placed for a podium finish, like AbSki, in their first season. Lads’ Night Out beat their bastard-children, Living On A Spare, 6-4 in another high-scoring game. Lads put in scores between 35 & 39 in each leg, winning three, whereas LOAS got their points with leg scores of 40 & 41. The match saw a host of 30+ scores, with Alan Pointer (35) & Simon Bennett (34) the best of them. Right - three more weeks, how will the divisions look by the end of the month..?

WEEK 29