Silverware is secured in dramatic last week of action in the league

THIS was the final week of the 2016 season in the Widnes & District Pensioners’ Bowls League.

It concluded with four competitions coming to their conclusions last Wednesday and Thursday.

Last Wednesday the three Four-A-Side Finals took place at Moorfield.

The Third Division showdown produced the most dramatic finish.

This final featured Fords No2 against Fords No3.

Jim Benbow has had a good season for Fords No2 and he was up against Frank Lane.

Frank went off to the better start and carried his form through to the end as he won 21-10 to give Fords No3 a good bedrock in the encounter.

At the same time Roy Wakeham was doing well for Fords No2 and kept his team in touch by beating Harry Singleton 21-13.

Next man off the green for Fords No2 was Dave Molyneux who beat Doug Dale 21-16 to give Fords No2 the lead by two chalks.

Then giving a captain’s performance, Don Martin held his cool to edge home 21-17 for Fords No3 to take the Cronton Community Shield by two chalks.

In the Second Division Final, Runcorn War Memorial Club faced Victoria Park 1b.

Stan Schofield set the ball rolling for Victoria Park by getting the better of Ron Wilding 21-11.

At The same time Mike Couzens, so consistent for RWMC during the season, overcame John Hope’s stout resistance to win 21-18 for RWMC and reduced the defecit to seven chalks.

The final two games went the way of RWMC who completed their comeback with wins by Les Illidge 21-17 and Dennis Sharp 21-11 to secure the Tommy Byrne Shield by seven chalks.

The biggest surprise on Wednesday afternoon came in the First Division Final.

Here, relegated Fords No1 overcame all predictions to beat The Grapes. This was not a fluke win as Fords took on the challenge head on.

The first two games both went to Fords as Brian Gould beat Ray Worthington 21-10 and Les Westerside came good against Mike Hagan 21-11.

This 21-chalk lead was never really threatened by The Grapes.

The second pairings saw Rob Johnston win 21-18 for The Grapes as Ford’s captain Fred Overy won 21-15 to claim The Harry Mather Trophy by 24 chalks with the best win of the afternoon.

The much-anticipated Isherwood Cup Final took place on Thursday afternoon at Halewood.

The green and weather conditions were ideal and a close match was anticipated with Eccleston giving Moorfield No1 four chalks start in this all-top flight affair.

Eccleston took the game to Moorfield right from the start.

Ian Gerrard (21-15), John Ryan (21-9), Bryan Forsyth (21-14) and Alan Burrows (21-14) all won for Eccleston as they established a lead they would never relinquish.

The one bright spot for Moorfield came at the start of the second four through Brian Hough’s 21-6 victory, the best score of the day by either side.

This was stamped out, though, by Rod Kay (21-7), Derek Roylance (21-9) and Ken Parr (21-20) as Eccleston won the Isherwood Cup by a margin of 40 chalks.

This completed a fine 2016 season for Eccleston who also won the First Division crown. ● The half-yearly meeting for the Pensioners’ League will take place at The Moorfield Club on Tuesday, November 22 starting at 7.30 pm when all teams are expected to be represented.