Shropshire Star

Ifton looking to cure their travel sickness

Dickie Jones admits Ifton must turn their away form around to maintain their Flowfit Shropshire Premier League challenge.

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The Oswestry outfit go to Burway tomorrow for the reverse fixture after handing out a 12-2 hammering on Friday night.

They then go to Hanwood on Friday and Jones knows they need two good results to keep pace at the top-of-the-table.

The Ifton skipper said: "We had the most away wins in the league last season but it's our away form letting us down this season.

"It's hard to put your finger on why that is, so this is going to be an important week for us. We are playing well at home and showed that on Friday.

"But Burway is a place where we don't tend to do too well and Hanwood are a really strong home team and it's a place where we haven't bowled for a long while.

"We need at least 10 points from the two matches because we are slipping away a little bit."

Wayne Rogers and Kevin Dovey were the only Burway winners on a night when Nicky Jones starred for the home side with a 21-1 success over Duncan Pressley.

Hanwood gained the victory over Shrewsbury rivals Castlefields with a 9-5 result.

Dave Burton was the hosts' MVP, while Paul Williams picked up the prize for the visitors.

Sir John Bayley won away for the first time with an 11-3 victory at bottom club Hadley USC.

Alex Jones was Bayley's top player with a 21-8 win over Phil King, while Neil Martin picked up the home side's MVP for seeing off Gary Cooper 21-17.

It could have been better for Hadley, who suffered a number of close defeats.

Leaders St Georges got the better of defending champions Newport to extend their lead at the top to four points.

Skipper Tony Rhodes led by example with a 21-1 success as his side picked up nine winners in an 11-3 success.

Peter Farmer was the best winner for the visitors, who will hope to claw back ground in tomorrow's reverse fixture.

Meole Brace made it seven home wins out of seven with a 10-4 defeat of Bowring. In the closest game of the night, Julian Cooke edged out Josh Bradburn 21-20 to register a point for the hosts.

Chester Road continued their impressive run of recent form with a thumping 11-3 success at Bylet.

Ian Mcdonald was the visitors' MVP after beating Scott Harries 21-14. Mick Harries was the home side's top man as he saw off Mark Holland by the same scoreline.

Wrockwardine Wood closed the gap to between them and Wem USC to five points with a 12-2 victory.

Both the visitors' wins were close, with skipper Mike Dulson edging out Mark Picknell 21-20 and Fred Bailey beating Martin Gaut 21-17.

Martin Williams won the Wrockites' MVP award for beating Derek Wright 21-12, while Mark Clayton had his side's biggest win (21-5).

All sides play the reverse fixtures tomorrow night as the league reaches the halfway stage.

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