The battle for positions near the top took another twist over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, after two below averages scores for Louie’s Angels saw them slip back down to fifth position.

The latest two days began on Saturday with a session in which all four teams improved their averages and second placed Mooragh Lakers strengthened their position with just two weekends remaining.

The current champions, well for a little while, started with a perfect result against Parkers, before dropping a solitary point in their outing with Castletown Cannons.

The southerners had earlier beaten basement side Bits n Bobs to record a fourth win of the campaign and extend their advantage over stablemates Corkers, who were due to play the following day.

Parkers meanwhile had the task of holding onto sixth spot, however this time they came out on the right side of a maximum scoreline, to record their first and the season’s 26th full house.

Results for Saturday, February 17: Parkers 96 (0), Mooragh Lakers 126 (6); Castletown Cannons 108 (4), Bits n Bobs 97 (2); Mooragh Lakers 125 (5), Castletown Cannons 94 (1); Bits n Bobs 87 (0), Parkers 126 (6).

The weather took a turn for the worse just as the players began Sunday’s session, which included the teams occupying third to fifth and was postponed back in January.

One of the opening clashes saw third placed Outsiders come out on top by a margin of 21 points against Louie’s Angels, who were fourth.

This while next to bottom Castletown Corkers would have been quite happy to have taken a game from Seven-Up who occupied fifth.

Things didn’t get any easier for Angels as they next had to take on the side directly behind them and to make matters worse had to compete short of a player after one of them had to drop out because of illness.

They were already two regulars missing from their line-up and after recording only 84 points, slipped down behind opponents Seven-Up, who themselves dropped just five chalks to remain hot on the heals of their rivals.

Another team finished their league campaign in this session, when Corkers lost out by five games to one against Outsiders, who themselves came very close to a maximum.

Results for Sunday, February 18: Outsiders 116 (4), Louie’s Angels 95 (2); Seven-Up 123 (5), Castletown Corkers 78 (1); Castletown Corkers 81 (1), Outsiders 125 (5); Louie’s Angels 84 (1), Seven-Up 121 (5).

The league crown might well be all but settled, however there are still some tight battles going on for individual honours, especially in the womens section, which is led by Janet Monk (Lakers) ahead of team-mate Jenny Moore, they are separated by just one point.

Both had scares in their opening games on Saturday against Parkers, Janet coming through against Brian Woodall to 20 and Jenny fighting back to overcome Paul Bailey on 19.

There was no change in the top three places overall, with those involved having the weekend off, so with two games left to play, the threesome all from Jacks Off are divided by eight points and are led by Matthew Keggen, who is followed by Glynn Hargraves and Stefan Kelly.

Next come Monk and Moore; with sixth being occupied by Brian Kelly (Lakers). Two team-mates are locked together on the same tally in seventh and eighth after Tricia Bull (Angels) closed the gap on Margy Tasker who suffered her sixth defeat of the season.

Wayne Roberts (Porters) is ninth, whilst moving down the list on averages from games played by the team rather than individually, next come Dougie Allan (Govags); James Teare (Lakers); Alison Keggen (Angels); Frank Watson (Outsiders); Paul Bailey (Parkers) and Kim Hargraves (Jacks Off).

The latest player to qualify for the Rest squad, which will compete against the Best on Sunday, March 25, is next and that is Tracey Moore (Corkers); holding onto 17th is top junior, Austin Hart (Jacks Off).

Making up the top 20 at this time are Rebecca Teare (Lakers); Tony Dugdale (Outsiders) and Gordon Corrin (Bowl Rollers).

One positional battle was decided on a snowy afternoon in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, whilst there are still others to be settled over the next three weekends.

Two teams completed their programme on Sunday and at the start of play were locked together on the same average, however when all the points were added up, Bowl Rollers claimed the bragging rights over Erin Porters by a close margin of just three and currently occupy eighth spot.

This was not the only change of positions after Louie’s Angels – or perhaps they should be the ‘Snow Angels’ – racked up two good scores, which moved them into fourth above Seven-Up and only 19 chalks behind third placed Outsiders.

The action began on Saturday with leaders Jacks Off emerging with a 16-chalk victory over third placed Outsiders.

Govags then joined the fray but struggled to a total of just 75, whereas opponents Jacks Off just missed out on their 10^th maximum of the campaign.

The final clash of the session saw Outsiders match the 124 recorded in the earlier fixture and with Govags only scoring 96 their average slipped and I believe will now have to settle for ninth place.

Results for Saturday, February 10: Outsiders 100 (2), Jacks Off 116 (4); Jacks Off 124 (5), Govags 75 (1); Govags 96 (1), Outsiders 124 (5).

As mentioned earlier Rollers and Porters arrived at the green on Sunday level on points, however the last time this quartet of teams were in action together, Rollers left with 44 chalks more than their close rivals.

It was advantage Porters following the opening session of games, after they recorded a total of 118 against Castletown Corkers and Louie’s Angels beat Rollers 117 to 92.

Not long into the next set of fixtures, along came some showers of snow to add to the strong wind, but this did not deter Louie’s Angels who dropped just five points, but more importantly left their southern neighbours, Porters, back on 91.

This all left Rollers needing a total of 118 or better to move back up that one place and they sneaked home against Corkers with two to spare.

One player said after finishing his game, that he couldn’t remember having played in all four seasons of the year during one game of bowls.

At the head of the table Jacks Off need to score 164 points to secure the league title, whereas the battle for second to fifth will go down to the wire.

Results for Sunday, February 11: Bowl Rollers 92 (2), Louie’s Angels 117 (4); Erin Porters 118 (5), Castletown Corkers 87 (1); Louie’s Angels 121 (5), Erin Porters 91 (1); Castletown Corkers 82 (1), Bowl Rollers 120 (5).

This Sunday will see a set of fixtures postponed back in January, so the next free day will be Saturday, March 10. While one week later on March 17, the club championships will take place, entries for which are now being taken at the clubhouse.

Two players have qualified for the annual Best against Rest contest, which will take place on Sunday, March 25; they are Wayne Roberts (Erin Porters) and Gordon Corrin (Bowl Rollers).

Two groups of players made up the entry for the midweek round robin and in the black jack doubles section the winners were Steve Parker and Mark Kelly, ahead of Alec Taylor and David Clucas, with third being taken by Derek Allen and Lynda Wilson.

Ken Karran and Tricia Bull topped the other gang, ahead of Brian Masterson and Peter Kelly in second, and Doug Allan and Allan Kennaugh third.

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 24^th 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.

There was just one day of league fixtures over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling Club calendar and along with the leaders, there were three teams jostling for places in the lower half of the table.

Bowl Rollers were the latest side to be on the wrong side of a six games to nil result against top outfit Jacks Off, who took their tally of maximums to nine and the overall total so far to 23.

Erin Porters (seventh) and ninth placed Govags were also competing on a very blustery afternoon and even though Porters won four games, they lost out by six points, which meant that Govags gained revenge for the last time these two clashed.

Also turning an earlier defeat into victory were Bowl Rollers who dropped just two chalks in a five games to one success over western rivals Govags.

Porters fought hard in their final fixture to try and maintain a slender advantage over Rollers and Govags, but they slipped down below them both after defeat against Jacks Off.

They did win one game and what an important outcome, especially in the battle for the individual merit; as it was a second loss for leader Stefan Kelly, who could only manage a score of 13 against Wayne Roberts, this means he now drops behind team-mate Matthew Keggen in the standings.

As for the league battles – Jacks Off just need to average 106 points from each of their last four fixtures to ensure they cannot be caught at the top.

Rollers meantime now occupy seventh on a score of 105.39, next are Govags, and they are on exactly the same average as Porters, both have 105.06.

Results for Sunday, January 28: Bowl Rollers 87 (0), Jacks Off 126 (6); Erin Porters 105 (4), Govags 111 (2); Jacks Off 118 (5), Erin Porters 93 (1); Govags 106 (1), Bowl Rollers 124 (5).

Two round robins were held prior to Sunday’s fixtures, with the midweek session having an entry of 29, which had some close results.

In the doubles, three pairs completed the contest with the same amount of points and after a roll-up the victors were Mark Kelly and Derek Cadamy; second went to Bernie McPhee and Bryan Corner and missing out in third spot were Doug Allan and Peter Kelly.

Triples was the order of the day for the other group and coming out on top were Elaine Moore, Terry Bates and Bernard Thackrah; in second after another roll-up were Rita Callister, Lil Smith and Kevin Firth, with the trio of Lynda Cadamy, Ken Karran and Jeff Wilson just missing out.

There was another gathering on Saturday, but just 17 braved the windy conditions, the groups were re-drawn after the first session and the individual top three were Philippa Taylor, Steve Crampton and Alec Taylor.