The leading three teams were in action on the one day of league fixtures over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League and it was second placed Seven-Up who left Nobles Park the happiest.

They reduced the gap to leaders Mooragh Lakers down to just 20, with the margin being as high as 43 prior to Christmas and both with four fixtures left to play the title could be decided by mid February, the date they are due to complete their programme.

The afternoon began with Lakers dropping a crucial eight chalks in their encounter with next to bottom side Castletown Cannons, who themselves racked up a great total of 104, which included two losses on 20.

Also on the green was the first of two big clashes, with Seven-Up (second) taking on third placed Unstopabowls, a team who have been hovering close behind the top two and with a few new faces in their line-up have done well to remain in contention.

They both threw all they had into this, and things couldn’t have ended much closer as Unstopabowls won 4-2 on games, but lost out in the all-important points battle by just two.

Match details, Seven-Up first: Jordan Cain 21, Steve Waters 10; Alison Keggen 19, Alan Moore 21; Kevin Quirk 20, Glynn Hargraves 21; Nigel Thomas 21, Stefan Kelly 15; Steve Crampton 12, David Kelly 21; Paula Firth and Derek Clarke 18, Glenn Boland and Kim Hargraves 21. Seven-Up 111 (2), Unstopabowls 109 (4).

After the first set of fixtures the Lakers had increased their points margin by seven, but they had to swap opponents for the second batch, in which Seven-Up took full advantage and dropped just one chalk against Cannons.

Lakers meantime had to take on eight-time champions Unstopabowls to maintain their margin, but as expected it was the closest contest of the session, decided by one point and three-all on games.

A fairly low scoring result, which went in favour of Lakers, but maybe more so to Seven-Up, because as mentioned that leading margin has reduced dramatically and can easily be overturned in one afternoon.

Remaining results for Sunday, January 29: Mooragh Lakers 118 (5), Castletown Cannons 104 (1); Castletown Cannons 86 (1), Seven-Up 125 (5); Unstopabowls 106 (3) Mooragh Lakers 107 (3).

The leading three players in the battle for the individual merit took part in this session, all winning their two games, so no change with Jordan Cain (Seven-Up) ahead of Jenny Moore (Lakers) on a better against total, and with two games more to play than those two is Glynn Hargraves (Unstopabowls), also having dropped just three chalks.

Either side of the league fixtures, two round robins took place, and in the midweek gathering an entry of 36 was split into triples with the winners being Janet Monk, Graham Ogden, and Derek Clarke, ahead of Vicky Lloyd-West, Bernard Thackrah and Doug Allan.

Also victorious were Mike Skelly, Jacqui Elliott and Erwin Gelling, who just pipped Terry Bates, Ken Karran and Bob Coker.

Saturday had a smaller group of 23 and winning the triples were Lil Smith, James Teare and Tricia Bull, with second going to Ken Karran, David Kelly and Mark Kelly; whilst in the other gang, which was played as doubles, the victors were Alan Moore and Stefan Kelly, beating Steve Crampton and Derek Clarke into second spot.

The latest weekend of action in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League had teams from the bottom half of the table compete over two days that saw seventh placed Erin Porters come away with the largest points total.

First up they took on their southern rivals Castletown Cannons and dropped just seven chalks in a comfortable victory, they then went straight back on to the green and defeated Bits n Bobs to take their points total to 236.

The fact that Bits n Bobs were a player short for the session didn’t help their cause and they also lost out to a Cannons outfit who recorded their highest score to date, an achievement that will help them in their battle to finish above stablemates Corkers who were due to play 24 hours later.

Results for Saturday, January 21: Castletown Cannons 93 (1), Erin Porters 119 (5); Erin Porters 117 (5), Bits n Bobs 84 (1); Bits n Bobs 101 (3), Castletown Cannons 113 (3).

The cold wind of the previous day had died down on Sunday as Bowl Rollers kicked-off the session with a close six chalk victory over Govags, in a set of fixtures that took the list past the 100 mark.

Match details with Govags first: Bob Berry 21, Shirley Whelan 19; Pat Robertson 9, Gordon Corrin 21; Jeff Wilson 19, Lil Smith 21; Peter Kelly 21, Terry Bates 13; Doug Allan 21, Sylvia Kennaugh 10; Mark Kelly and Linda Wilson 8, Rosie Winckle and Shirley Corrin 21. Govags 99 (3), Bowl Rollers 105 (3).

The westerners next convincingly beat bottom team Castletown Corkers by a margin of 43 points, before Rollers re-joined the action and recorded a second victory by defeating Corkers, who fared much better of the points front and are now 25 behind the Cannons.

Remaining results for Sunday, January 22: Castletown Corkers 76 (1), Govags 119 (5); Bowl Rollers 115 (4), Castletown Corkers 103 (2).

A group of 46 attended the latest midweek round robin, which meant a very busy afternoon out on the green, with eight jacks being used.

What a battle it turned out to be in the red triples with three gangs finishing on the same total and after a roll-up the trio of Graham Ogden, Carol Kaye and Mark Kelly were the winners.

Second spot went to Mike Skelly, Jeff Wilson and Doug Allan, and just missing out in third were Bernard Thackrah, Alan Phair and Dave Faragher.

Also played as triples was the yellow group from which Derek Allen, Shirley Whelan and Derek Clarke emerged as victors, ahead of Bernie McPhee, Joy Stephens and Tricia Bull.

The third winners were Peter Karran and Mike Ware, with second place in the doubles going to Janet Monk and Vicky Lloyd-West.

It is game on after the latest weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League after the top team, Mooragh Lakers had a poor session and the leader in the individual merit was beaten.

There is now a gang of three at the head of the table, each having dropped three points apiece, as they battle for the Derek Killey memorial trophy, and they are Jordan Cain (Seven-Up), Jenny Moore (Lakers) and Glynn Hargraves (Unstopabowls) who has played two games less.

All have the credentials to go on and win the main award, with Glynn having done so on three previous occasions, Jordan once in 2014 and Jenny being a double winner of the ladies merit.

Three other players are averaging above 20 and they are Alan Moore (Unstopabowls), Brian Kelly (Lakers) and Tony Dugdale (Outsiders); meanwhile in second place for the ladies individual title and with it the Geoff Osborn memorial trophy, is Lyn Bolton (Outsiders).

We will look at things in reverse order this week with the four sides competing on Sunday all being from the top six and the biggest benefactors from the group were Parkers who recorded 13 points more than they did in the equivalent sets of games, also bearing in mind they were up against the leading two.

First up they challenged Mooragh Lakers and took them to a share of the games and lost by a much closer margin of just 11, next opponents were second placed Seven-Up, and once again brought the first half deficit down, this time from 28 to 13.

Compare this to Louie’s Angels who are in danger of slipping down another position in the table, they only totalled 181 for the afternoon and now have a slender gap of just two points between themselves and Parkers, both sides with four fixtures left to play.

Seven-Up meanwhile are 31 points behind Lakers, but as these two battle it out, not far behind are Unstopabowls, the eight times winners. Looking at the averages for the three teams, Lakers are on 118.8, Seven-Up 116.8 and Unstopabowls 116.6 – making this a three-way battle for the crown.

Results for Sunday, January 15: Mooragh Lakers 114 (3), Parkers 103 (3); Seven-Up 119 (5), Louie’s Angels 84 (1); Parkers 101 (2), Seven-Up 114 (4); Louie’s Angels 97 (2), Mooragh Lakers 107 (4).

Twenty-four hours earlier things went pretty much to the formbook with two teams getting revenge for first-half defeats. Outsiders got the better of Erin Porters with a good score of 122, whilst the losers then recovered to squeeze home by a margin of just three against Bowl Rollers.

Match details with Porters first: Dave McCabe 14, Shirley Corrin 21; Jacqui Elliott 17, Sylvia Kennaugh 21; Carole Kaye 14, Rosie Winckle 21; Bernard Thackrah 21, Shirley Whelan 11; Ken Clarke 21, Terry Bates 17; Derek Allen/Chris Dent 21, Lil Smith/Gordon Corrin 14. Erin Porters 108 (3), Bowl Rollers 105 (3).

Rollers had earlier eased to victory against Bits n Bobs with a total just four short of a maximum, and finally Outsiders completed a bad afternoon for the Bits outfit, who remain just above the bottom two in the table.

Remaining results for Saturday, January 14: Outsiders 122 (4), Erin Porters 100 (2); Bowl Rollers 122 (5), Bits n Bobs 83 (1); Bits n Bobs 96 (2) Outsiders 117 (4).

An entry of 23 braved the cold conditions to take part in the midweek round robin with the winners of each group being July Reilly and Shirley Whelan in the doubles, along with the trio of Steve Parker, Carole Kaye and Mark Kelly.

Things swung back into action after the festive break over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League and all eight outcomes had the same winners as the last time they met.

All the fixtures were repeats from earlier in the campaign and whilst Outsiders did best positional wise by moving up one place, it was Castletown Corkers who showed the biggest improvement by notching up 56 points more this time.

First up Outsiders took on Parkers who were just behind in the standings and having beat them with a 20-point advantage in their previous clash, they will have hoped for some of the same, but Parkers pushed them all way and lost out by just two chalks.

The next clash saw a 37-point margin victory for Louie’s Angels back in November, however Bowl Rollers reduced that deficit down to only nine this time around.

Rollers then reduced another margin of defeat when they played Parkers, but couldn’t prevent the victors from improving their average to consolidate fifth spot and move within touching distance of Louie’s Angels.

Outsiders completed a successful afternoon for themselves and just missed out on their first maximum, however they did enough to swap places in the table with their opponents Louie’s Angels and now have a five point margin over them.

Results for Saturday, January 7: Parkers 112 (3), Outsiders 114 (3); Louie’s Angels 109 (4), Bowl Rollers 100 (2); Rollers 97 (2), Parkers 114 (4); Outsiders 124 (5), Louie’s Angels 89 (1).

Sunday saw Govags record their best total to date, as they dropped just four chalks in defeating Castletown Cannons; this while bottom side Castletown Corkers fared much better this time out against Unstopabowls.

The southerners struggled to a score of 65 when they met previously, whereas their opponents hit a maximum, but this time they improved that total to 99 and pegged the third placed outfit down to 111.

Next up it was the Castletown derby, and although they lost, Corkers did better in this fixture also, reducing a 26-point deficit against Cannons down to three on this occasion, and in doing so took their average above the 90-point mark.

The two earlier victors then went head-to-head and things finished pretty much the same as the last time they met, which was not good news for Govags after they lost 5-1 on games to Unstopabowls.

Results for Sunday, January 8: Govags 122 (5), Castletown Cannons 97 (1); Castletown Corkers 99 (2), Unstopabowls 111 (4); Castletown Cannons 111 (4), Castletown Corkers 108 (2); Unstopabowls 122 (5), Govags 88 (1).

The first round robin of the new year attracted an entry of 33, which was split into two sets of triples and the winners were Steve Parker, Shirley Fargher and Trish Bull; along with Ken Karran, George Peach and Carol Kaye.

Just missing out and finishing in second were Vicky Lloyd-West, Voirrey Curphey and Lil Smith; and Roy Murphy, Bernie McPhee and Dougie Allan.

The last round robin before the Christmas festivities attracted an entry of 21, which was slightly lower than the usual midweek total.

The session was played as one gang of triples with the eventual winners being Mike Skelly, Roma Ware and Mark Kelly; with second going to Alan Moore, Erwin Gelling and Philippa Taylor; whilst in third it was the trio of Doug Allan, Margie Tasker and Voirrey Curphey.

One week later an entry of 25 was separated into two groups with the successful partnerships being Jenny Moore and Shirley Fargher in the doubles, ahead of Steve Moore and Lil Smith.

Whilst in the triples it was Mike Skelly, Hazel Hughes and Ken Karan who were the winners ahead of Derek Clarke, David Clucas and Dave McCabe.

Without wishing to tempt fate, the festive break was reached at the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, with everything on schedule and not having any postponements to the programme.

Just three teams were in action and they were welcomed by a heavy dew on the surface which soon disappeared during a close encounter that saw Parkers win by the margin of just 13 over basement side Castletown Corkers.

There was no time for a brew as the Castletown outfit then went up against their southern opponents Louie’s Angels, and although taking two games, they lost by 19 points.

However they were the only team on the day to increase their average and in turn move closer to their stablemates Castletown Cannons.

Keeping the momentum going Angels next took on Parkers and they left for home with two victories to their credit after defeating them by 12 points.

The outcomes saw fourth placed Angels slip closer, and Parkers in sixth further away, from Outsiders who are sandwiched between these two in the table.

Results for Saturday, December 17: Parkers 110 (3), Castletown Corkers 97 (3); Castletown Corkers 89 (2), Louie’s Angels 108 (4); Louie’s Angels 115 (4), Parkers 103 (2).

The Christmas tombola round robin took place on Sunday, whereas the midweek session prior to this was cancelled.

There was an entry of 33 in the weekend outing which was split into two groups and the afternoon ended with roll-ups in both to decide the outcomes.

In the black jacks it was for first place, with the eventual winners being Philippa Taylor, Jackie Elliott and Doug Allan, and just missing out were Jordan Cain, Peter Hughes and Voirrey Curphey.

The roll-up in the other gang was to decide second, behind Steve Parker, Alec Taylor and Derek Clarke, and it went in favour of Jenny Moore, Margie Tasker and Frances Radcliffe.

The top three extended their lead over the other contenders at the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, after they improved their averages and now have a margin of almost four points.

Mooragh Lakers hold top spot on 119.9, helped by their fourth and the season’s 11^th maximum; into second are Seven-Up after they boosted their average to 116.9, compared to third placed Unstopabowls close behind on 116.7.

Both days were reversed sets of fixtures played earlier in the campaign and on Saturday the overall points totals between the two days was a difference of just eight, with Castletown Cannons and Unstopabowls doing better second time round.

Three teams recorded victories with Outsiders and Bowl Rollers defeating Cannons by four games to two and that was also the score when the Rollers lost out to an improving Unstopabowls outfit, who are pushing hard to retain their league crown.

In the final fixture, the champions notched up their second success of the session and dropped just five chalks against Outsiders, with the match details as follows (Unstopabowls first): Glynn Hargraves 21, Frank Watson 19; Steve Waters 16, Tony Dugdale 21; Neil Withers 21, Lynn Bolton 18; Kim Hargraves 21, Sid Bolton 13; Stefan Kelly 21, Ben Dugdale 8; Alan Moore and Glenn Boland 21, Mike Alexander and George Brew 17. Result: Unstopabowls 121 (5), Outsiders 96 (1).

Remaining results for Saturday, December 10: Outsiders 115 (4), Castletown Cannons 92 (2); Bowl Rollers 94 (2), Unstopabowls 114 (4); Castletown Cannons 96 (2), Bowl Rollers 118 (4).

The second day was a big challenge for two of the teams, with there being just one point dropped by the two victors first time round, a set of results that had three maximums.

Govags scored just 80 against Mooragh Lakers in the first clash back in October, but this time they improved to 95 and in turn their opponents were seven points worse off.

Bottom side Castletown Corkers fared only slightly better on the individual games front, but were plus 19 on the points side and also prevented another full house defeat against Seven-Up.

The next fixture was also a 126 score to the winners Seven-Up some two months ago, and although Govags struggled to the lowest total of the weekend, they managed to take eight points from their challengers.

Finally, although Corkers reached 19 in two of the games, they couldn’t halt Mooragh Lakers, who went on to record their fourth maximum and open up a 43-point advantage over their closest rivals.

Results for Sunday, December 11: Govags 95 (2), Mooragh Lakers 119 (4); Castletown Corkers 87 (1), Seven-Up 122 (5); Seven-Up 118 (5), Govags 79 (1); Mooragh Lakers 126 (6), Castletown Corkers 85 (0).

A slight downturn in the weather saw a smaller gang of 21 compete in the midweek round robin and from one set of triples the winners were Derek Cadamy, Hazel Hughes and Steve Parker.

In second were Jeff Wilson, Doug Allan and Tricia Bull, with third going to Mike Skelly, Margie Tasker and Erwin Gelling.

This weekend sees the first three-team session on Saturday, followed 24 hours later by the Christmas tombola draw and a round robin.

Once again there was just one set of fixtures over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, as the club raced through the halfway point in their schedule, helped by the continuing dry conditions.

And what a session it turned out to be, especially at the top of the merit table, after the last three unbeaten players lost for the first time, proving that although it was dry, the cold weather made things difficult.

Three of the top four teams were in action and it was the leaders Mooragh Lakers who came away happiest after they improved their average to 119.5, compared to non-playing nearest rivals Unstopabowls on 116.5.

Next come Seven-Up, who slipped down to 116.3, they are well clear of new fourth placed Louie’s Angels, however after having their worst afternoon of the campaign, Outsiders dropped one place into fifth on an average of 111.1.

Also competing on Saturday were Bowl Rollers and they also had their worst session to date, they scored a total of just 161 and in turn lost a place in the table, and are now behind Erin Porters.

Results for Saturday, December 3: Outsiders 98 (1), Mooragh Lakers 115 (5); Bowl Rollers 78 (1), Seven-Up 117 (5); Seven-Up 114 (4), Outsiders 102 (2); Mooragh Lakers 125 (5), Bowl Rollers 83 (1).

As mentioned earlier there was a shake-up at the top of the table in the chase for the Derek Killey memorial trophy, with the new leader being Jenny Moore (Mooragh Lakers), followed just two points behind by Jordan Cain (Seven-Up) and Glynn Hargraves (Unstopabowls).

The leading 15 with their averages is as follows: 1, Jenny Moore 20.92; 2, Jordan Cain 20.75; 3, Glynn Hargraves 20.70; 4, Tony Dugdale (Outsiders) 20.50; 5, Steve Parker (Lakers) 20.42; 6, Bernie McPhee (Parkers) 20.25; 7, Rob Monk (Lakers) 20.08; 8, Brian Kelly (Lakers) 19.92; 9, Alan Moore (Unstopabowls) 19.90; 8, Matthew Keggen (Louie’s Angels) 19.67; 9, James Teare (Lakers) 19.58; 10, Margie Tasker (Angels) 19.58; 11, Elaine Moore (Unstopabowls) 19.50; 12, Lyn Bolton (Outsiders) 19.42; 13, Sid Bolton (Outsiders) 19.33; 14, Rebecca Teare (Angels) 19.33; 15, Adrian Skinner (Lakers) 19.17.

Two round robin afternoons were held either side of the league games, with a good entry of 41 in the midweek gang, which was split into groups of two triples and a doubles.

Topping the scoresheets were Vicky Lloyd-West, Tom Wilson and Doug Allan, along with Alan Phair, Steve Parker and Mike Ware; also the duo of Hazel Hughes and Lil Smith.

Just missing out were Graham Ogden, Shirley Fargher and Derek Clarke; George Peach, Jean Thackrah and Pauline Worrall; and Frances Radcliffe and Philippa Taylor.

Sunday’s session had a much smaller entry probably due to the bitterly cold wind and the 24 who braved the elements were separated into two equal sets of doubles.

The black jack winners being Allan Kennaugh and Alec Taylor, ahead of Steve Waters and Elaine Moore, while the other group was won by Lynda Cadamy and Stefan Kelly, with the runners-up being Steve Moore and Steve Parker.

Three fixtures finished with margins of two points or less during the latest weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, with all but one of the eight teams improving their average.

At the end of the first day all the teams had played 10 fixtures each and with the leading three not in action, it was Outsiders in fifth who had an opportunity to close the gap.

They kicked off with a near perfect score of 125 against Govags, but then lost two games and 19 points when they played bottom side Castletown Corkers, to finish on an average of 116 for the afternoon.

Bowl Rollers also had two victories, the first against Corkers by the closest of margins, even though they lost 4-2 on games. They then went one better to double their advantage with a two point success whilst defeating Govags.

Match details from Rollers versus Govags fixture were as follows (Rollers first): Gordon Corrin 16, Vicky Lloyd-West 21; Shirley Corrin 21, Bob Berry 18; Sue Caley 10, Jeff Wilson 21; Sylvia Kennaugh 21, Doug Allan 12; Terry Bates 21, Pat Roberston 20; Lil Smith and Rosie Winckle 21, Lynda Wilson and Mark Kelly 16. Bowl Rollers 110 (4), Govags 108 (2).

Other results for Saturday, November 26: Govags 94 (1), Outsiders 125 (5); Castletown Corkers 104 (4), Bowl Rollers 105 (2); Outsiders 107 (4), Castletown Corkers 83 (2).

Sunday afternoon started with another close outcome when Parkers and Erin Porters fought out a three-all on games, which went in favour of Parkers 111 to 109.

Into fifth after the previous day’s results, Louie’s Angels then set about getting back above Outsiders, but with scores of 117, against Bits n Bobs, and 112, whilst defeating Porters, they now trail their rivals by 0.3 on average points.

The final clash of the session saw Bits n Bobs record their third victory of the campaign, after another draw on games, but success on the points front saw them move clear of the bottom two.

Results for Sunday, November 27: Parkers 111 (3), Erin Porters 109 (3); Louie’s Angels 117 (5), Bits n Bobs 97 (1); Erin Porters 95 (2), Louie’s Angels 112 (4); Bits n Bobs 117 (3), Parkers 108 (3).

A gang of 43 attended the latest midweek round robin session and from three groups, the doubles winners were Steve Parker and Shirley Fargher, just ahead of Lynda Wilson and Peter Kelly.

From two triples sections, the winners were Hazel Hughes, Voirrey Curphey and Carol Kaye; along with Allan Kennaugh, Margie Tasker and Mark Kelly.

Just missing out were Jeff Wilson, Janet Monk and Joy Stephens in the yellow jacks, and Colin Spence, Julie Reilly and Lynda Clarke in the black jacks.