Well, last week saw the race for the Premier section title take shape with Bystander A looking to be the major challenger to Abingdon Utd/Con Club’s recent years dominance of the title ! Bystander A made it 6 wins on the bounce as they saw off close rivals Croft Nomads 4-2 to take a one point lead over both the Croft and Abingdon United/Con Club who themselves were 5-1 winners over Berinsfield at the top of the table levelling their points total with that of the Croft who visit them this Wednesday. Both remain a point adrift of the Bystander with both Abingdon United and The Bystander having a game in hand so this week’s fixture between the two “chasers” and the final game of the season next month when Abingdon Utd/Con Club and Bystander meet will almost certainly determine where the Premier section title goes!!
Last week Bystander’s all round performance was enough to see off the Nomads with Dave Hudson, Jason Bowler and Andrew Morton all hitting 9 dolls apiece and skipper Steve Martin and Duncan Taylor both contributed 8 dolls of their own to see the Bystander to victory. This despite the best efforts of Dave Butler and Alan Bell who both hit 10 dolls and they were well supported by Martin Robinson, Barry Townsend and Steve Enock who all hit 9 dolls for the Croft.
Foe Abingdon Utd/Con Club Dave Dix top scored with 14 dolls, Phil, Adams hit 12 and Paul Barrett included the only 6 doll leg in his 11 as they overcame Berinsfield A 5-1 and for Berinsfield this represented their 6th straight defeat which is both surprising and really unusual! Their leg scores of 24, 16 and 12 probably illustrates how inconsistent they have been this season!
Phil Adams 12 dolls on the night makes him the second player with a doll average in excess of 4 per leg. Phil is now only headed in terms of average, of course, by Dave Dix who has played a game less so Phil atually leads on dolls scored!
Elsewhere in the Premier/A section there were wins for The Red Lion Drayton who beat College Oak 4-2 bringing an end to the Oak’s run of 4 straight wins. Dean Bowler’s recent return to his usual good form saw him hit 11 dolls whilst Phil Soden top scored with 9 dolls for the College. The Vine had cause to celebrate last week with their first win since week 5 in beating Steventon Sports A 4-2 . Danny Hamilton again led the way for the Vine with 10 dolls and in a disappointing night for Steventon no-one player was able to manage more than 6 dolls on the night!
The B section saw Abingdon Utd extend their unbeaten run to 8 games with Trevor Harrhy for United and Andrew Wilson for the Plough both hitting 10 dolls each as the teams shared the points 3 apiece. League leaders Stanford in the Vale FC had a really disappointing night and lost the top spot after a 5-1 defeat at Abingdon Legion and they only managed to score 27 dolls over the 3 legs! Both the Bell Grove teams in the B and C sections enjoyed a maximum 6 points against The Croft Bar and the Prince of Wales respectively. Also in the B section there were wins for the Fleur de Leys A and in the C section there were wins for leaders Abingdon Con Club and for The Bear and Ragged Staff for whom Rick Bailey top scored with 11 dolls as they beat the Royal Oak 4-2.
The D section produced wins for The Lamb Wantage A, The Chequers and the Wheatsheaf Didcot and the best individual doll haul in this section was from Cam King for the Brewery Tap but his 10 dolls weren’t enough to prevent the Tap going down 4-2. The E section saw RAL gain their third successive win overcoming Hanney RBL 4-2 and in the F section league WADS Bar registered their 4th successive win as Gareth Brown led the way with 10 dolls as they beat Sutton Courtney FC 6-0.
So how has last week’s results affected the League tables? Well I have already mentioned the Premier race which still features 3 teams still with a chance, but Croft having played a game more are probably the outsiders in a 3 team race to the title. Red Lion look favourites for the A section as they head second placed Plum Pudding and although Plum have a game in hand they trail the Lion by 14 points so with the Lion still having just 2 games to play they require only 4 more points to secure the title.
In the B section the defeat last week’s defeat of Stanford FC has let The Bell A take over at the top with just 3 games remaining for both including a head to head this week! The C section still has Abingdon Con Club well clear with just 2 to play, the D section looks to be a race between The Midget and Harwellian A who are separated by just 5 points. The E section and the F sections are both all still to play for as only a couple of points sit between the North Star A and Wheatsheaf teams in the E section and similarly there is little between the current leaders WADs Bar and Fleur de Leys B in the F section.
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