Final berths snapped up at singles night
Great action in both divisions
The Paisley arrow aces were flying solo this week as the singles competitions took centre stage.
In the First Division there were eight venues each hosting 10 players, all playing for just two qualification spots available on finals night.
In the Railway Inn, which will also hold the finals on next Monday, the qualifiers came from Court Bar and Burgh Bar as Paul Carruthers and current League Singles champion, Paul Hanvidge, made their way through to secure the first of the spaces in the finals – where they will now face each other.
They were followed by Fraser Dempsey of Pickwicks and Ian Thomson of Hagg Bar A, who both overcame tough competition as they negotiated their way through the field at Arthurlie Inns.
From the Gleniffer Hotel the qualifiers were Flying Horse A player John Peacock and former Singles champion John Williamson.
And, making up the last pairing in the top half of the last 16 draw are Willie Cuthbertson of Burgh Bar and Martin Quinn of Pockets Red after their successful campaign on the front board of Hagg Bar.
Flying Horse in Barrhead also held one of the qualifying rounds and from that venue Andy Boulton from Hagg Bar A and Stevie Wright of Arthurlie Inns were the on-song players who went through.
They are joined by the St Peter’s play-off winners Dean Fitch from Pickwicks and the Hagg Bar A captain, Evander Stevenson.
Court Bar supplied the next pair of finalists in the shape of former three-times Singles champion Drew Callary from St Peter’s and George Dempsey from Hagg Bar A.
The last of the finalists to claim a place came from the back room board in Hagg Bar where John Barclay Snr, who plays in Court Bar, and local player Richie Baillie, came through a very tough field of players to clinch the last spots.
The Second Division also played their Singles competition and with the same amount of entries in both Divisions they too had eight venues, all with a full complement of 10 players vying to claim a finals place at Pockets.
The first venue to supply finalists was Pockets itself and it was Court Bar B captain Ricky McKinnon and Andrew Park from Tartan Rose who claimed the first of the coveted places.
Also through, this time from Hazel Arms Bar, are Joe Mitchell of Court Bar B and George Downie of Inkerman Bowling Club.
There was also a playoff in Hazel Arms Lounge where Court Bar B’s Mark McKinnon, whose father had already qualified, also secured his place alongside David Rayner of Keystone B.
The top half of the draw was completed when the Keystone results came through to show that Peter Greville from the Kelburn and Billy Fitch from Pockets Black, had booked their places.
Kelburne Cricket Club produced the next pair of finalists where it was Garreth Cameron of Inkerman BC and Ian Burke from the Kelburn who were successful on the night.
Inkerman Bowling Club were next on the list to give their results and it was home player Don Alexander and Hazel Arms player John Malone, that joined the rest of the finalists with Don joining his Doubles winning partner George Downie in the finals.
At Tartan Rose the winning players came from Hazel Pirates and Tartan Rose as Andy McGrath and Gary Watson booked their places. In the last of the venues at the Kelburn, it was a doubles success for Tartan Rose as Danny Craig and David Johnson had very successful games on their way to the finals.
There were 21 maximums scored this week with three of them coming from Hagg Bar A captain Evander Stevenson along with two from David Park of Pockets Red. The fastest games of the week were a couple of brilliant 13-dart legs from Mick Malone of Hagg Bar A and Dean Fitch of Pickwicks. The highest finish of the week also came from Malone as he checked out one of his games on 116.