Horsehay battle to victory to give themselves hope

Coming off the back of their second away whitewash in three weeks, they returned to their home green to edge out Highley 210-203 on aggregate after splitting the 12 games.

Jamie Taylor had put Highley in prime position to take the bonus points for winning away when he thrashed Phil Wain 12-1, but battling Horsehay kept four of their other five losing games close.

Dave Scriven (21-11) was the only other Highley player to put some daylight between himself and his opponent, with Horsehay pushing other Highley winners Jack Hill (21-20), David East (21-19), Jacob Ash (21-17) and Bruno Heath (21-16) all the way.

And with Steve Reeves (21-8) leading the way, Michael Cooper, Richard Jones, Oliver Harris, Gareth Jones and Gavin Bridge got them over the line.

Horsehay are now level on points with second-bottom Bylet, who went down 10-2 (239-181) at Ifton, despite wins for Joe Dicken and Tim Ealey.

Ian Jones (21-5), Martin Jones (21-9), Craig Griffiths, Owen Jackson, Dave Jones, Nicky Jones, Oliver Jones, Darren Lacey, Joe Langford and Simon Tyler won for Ifton.

At the other end of the table, Sir John Bayley continued to march on at the summit with a 10-2 (238-140) victory over Hanwood, courtesy of single-figure wins from Scott Simpson (21-1), Reece Farr (21-4), Alex Jones (21-5), Scott Harries (21-6) and David Lloyd (21-6).

Chris Worthington, Dan Taylor, Stuart Rutter, Paul Evans and Owen Evans were also victorious.

Darren Wellings and Mark Shore replied for Hanwood.

Second-placed Castlefields closed the gap by a point to 14 with a 9-3 (241-200) success at Hanmer, with no single-figure winners on the day.

Michael Beer, Ashley Wellings, Andy Duckett, Callum Wraight, Gary Neal, Rich Goddard, Wayne Rogers, Adam Jones and Jon Palmer were the visitors’ victors.

Third-placed Wrockwardine Wood were beaten 7-5 (208-203) in a close encounter at Wem USC, with Ian Metcalfe’s 21-4 card for Wem making the majority of the distance.

He was joined in the winners’ circle by James Weaver, Simon Lewis, George Williams, Sarah Weaver, Colin Smith and Gareth Davies.

Sally (21-6) and Jamie King (21-8) led Wood’s reply, with Scott Moseley, Stuart Clee and Josh Cotton also on the mark.

Elsewhere, Meole Brace beat Adderley 7-5 (214-190) – thanks in part to Andy Wiggington’s 21-3 card. Craig Wilson, Will Childs, Mark Thomas, Aiden Hughes, Will Tarrell and Phil Lyttle also won.

And Burway were 7-5 (223-213) victors over St Georges, with Adam Dovey, Ben Allen, Harry Parsonage, Paul Williams, Kiah Roberts, Jesse James and Richard Lane winning their games.