Seven-Up on a charge
Play swung back into action after the festive break in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League and it was business as usual for second placed Seven-Up as they continue their challenge for the top.
They have dropped just five points an outing on average over their last seven fixtures and have moved to within touching distance of leaders Guns for Hire.
This while the three teams directly behind then slipped further adrift and are locked in their own little battle with only 27 points between them with eight fixtures to play.
Saturday kicked-off with Louie’s Angels out to try and repeat the maximum score they recorded against Parkers earlier in the season, which also came with a winning margin of 44, however their opponents had other ideas and managed to narrow that gap down to just six points.
Seven-Up meanwhile racked up the campaign’s 14th full-house when they played basement side Castletown Corkers.
Next up Seven-Up were out to gain revenge for a heavy defeat they suffered against Louie’s Angels back in October and this they did with a 20 point winning advantage this time round.
Seven-Up now also have a player at the head of the individual merit, following defeat for the previous leader Matthew Keggen (Angels) – Kevin Quirk takes over the position, just ahead of Marg Tasker, who also plays for Angels.
Matthew drops to fourth spot just behind Mike Thomas (Parkers), with the next two on the list being Mark Kelly (Seven-Up) and Jenny Moore (Outsiders).
The final result from the opening day saw Parkers do just enough against Corkers to move above Bowl Rollers by .06 of a point on average.
Results for Saturday, January 4: Parkers 107 (2), Louie’s Angels 113 (4); Seven-Up 126 (6), Castletown Corkers 68 (0); Louie’s Angels 101 (1), Seven-Up 121 (5); Castletown Corkers 90 (2), Parkers 120 (4).
Sunday’s quartet had two former league winning teams competing, however I believe they are both all but out of contention this time around and will battle it out for third spot.
Currently holding that position are Mooragh Lakers and they recorded two victories, both as close as possible and with exactly the same totals, but both below average.
First up they took on fourth placed current champions Outsiders and bearing in mind they were on the losing side of a score showing them separated by just three chalks back in October; this time the win went in favour of Lakers by just one.
There was another great encounter taking place at the same time between Erin Porters and Govags, with the latter taking the spoils by five games to one, however with only five points between them.
The four sides then went back into action, with Outsiders notching up a total of 118 against a battling Porters side.
Lakers meanwhile had another tough outing and were pushed all the way by Govags who eventually missed out on victory by two points, but did enough to hold onto sixth spot in the table.
This leaves the teams in third to fifth separated by just 27 points – Lakers on 1585, eight ahead of Outsiders, with Saturday’s participants Louie’s Angels a further 19 back – exactly 100 behind leaders Guns for Hire.
Results for Sunday, January 6: Mooragh Lakers 108 (3), Outsiders 107 (3); Erin Porters 110 (1), Govags 115 (5); Outsiders 118 (5), Erin Porters 93 (1); Govags 107 (3), Mooragh Lakers 108 (3).