Sir John Bayley happy with a vital victory

Bayley were 9-5 winners over Meole Brace and sit three points clear at the top of the Flowfit Shropshire Premier Bowls League.

Clarke said: "We would have liked a 10-4 but we wanted a win to keep us in the mix and a 9-5 we are happy with.

"I still see Meole Brace and St Georges as the ones to catch, even though we are top of the table at the minute, because of the games they have played.

"Meole Brace have won more away than anyone else and St Georges have got two home games in hand on us."

Tom Roden, Clarke and Paul Evans were Bayley's biggest winners to six, with Evans taking the MVP.

Dave Redge had a 21-10 win over Norman Harvey for the visitors. Colin Beaman was the Meole Brace MVP.

Chester Road remain firmly in the title race after a thumping 11-3 home success over Wrockwardine Wood.

Captain Paul Fowles praised his side for bouncing back well, after they were beaten by the same scoreline at St Georges the previous week.

Fowles said: "Chris Nicholson by far was our best player and, to be fair to Mark Jones, who played him, he was their best player.

"We are happy to go up the table to prove we are not a flash in the pan."

Castlefields produced the best away performance of the week, as they shared the 12 winners at Wem USC but lost the aggregate by two.

But the visitors will be frustrated at not picking up a win after being 3-1 and 5-3 ahead.

Newport defeated Hanwood 11-3, partly in thanks to the last four all winning for the defending champions.

Chris Grocott was MVP for the home side after he beat Glyn Wellings, while Nick Davies was the start man for Hanwood with a 21-17 win over Dave Rhodes.

Wayne Rogers believes practice made perfect as Burway upset table-topping St Georges.

The Ludlow outfit notched a 12-2 win to knock their visitors off the top of the Premier League.

Stand-in captain Rogers believes there was a reason for what he described as Burway's best performance of the season.

Rogers said: "The two losses we had were to 18 and 19, so everyone played their part. We haven't been having lots of practice this year but, last week, it all came together.

"A lot of the team played on the green in competitions on Wednesday and Thursday night and I think that showed.

"The week before at Wrockwardine Wood was disjointed, but we turned in a very good performance. We went 3-1 up in the first four and getting a good start gives you the confidence to go on."

Rogers is the league's in-form bowler, having now overtaken Aaron King with 11 straight victories.

He added: "I won the County Merit a couple of weeks and it's been going well for me, personally. I was 16-2 up (over Michael Wainwright), but he played very well in the middle of the game.

"Again, I have been playing a lot of different competitions and the hard work and practice pays off.

"We are all experienced bowlers and we have been together for many years, but we just haven't put it together in terms of results this season.

"But if we can play to this standard then we should be able to push up the league."

At the other end of the table, Bylet gained a couple of points on bottom club Hadley USC after going down to a 10-4 defeat at Bowring.

Steve Cox claimed MVP for the home side for his 21-5 defeat of Matthew Ealey, while Mick Harries was the visitors' top player after beating Steve Broome 21-10.

Ifton picked up the biggest win of the week with a 12-2 success over Hadley USC.

MVP for the home side was Dave Jones after be beat Phil King 21-6, while skipper Rob Burroughs was the pick of the Hadley line-up with a 21-14 win over Geraint Williams.