Houghton Sancroft return to top of the pack with Gateshead win
Houghton Sancroft returned to the top of their group with a cracking 4-1 (+10) win at Gateshead A in the latest round of seniors inter-club fixtures.
The pick of the wins saw Joe Sutherland, team captain Foster Johnson, Jimmy Swinney and Ian Whorlton beat D.Smith 18-9 while John Jones steered his rink to a 1412 win against J.Wolfenden.
It should have been a clean sweep, but David Wright dropped a last-end 4 to go down 15-14 against B.Bolam.
The win moves Sancroft 3½ points clear of Stanley and 8 points clear of South Shields, who Sancroft host next in December.
Group 3 standings: Sancroft 3-13, Stanley 3-9½, South Shields 3-5, Gateshead A 3-2½.
Houghton Gilpin ended their search for a win as they defeated Ferryhill 4½½ (+21).
Top rink was P.Robinson, D.Forth, K.Morris and Kev Barnes, who beat Colin Larcombe 15-4.
Dennis Gibson’s quartet beat R.Jefferson 17-7 and Ronnie Robson nearly snatched a point, trailing 10-5 then winning the last five ends to grab a 10-10 draw.
Gilpin, however, remain bottom on shots difference.
Group 2 standings: Darlington B 4-15, Hartlepool A 3-14½, South Shields 4-6½, Ferryhill 3-4½, Gilpin 4-4½.
There was disappointment for the Durham County seniors in the Over-60s Inter-County competition, as last year’s losing finalists were beaten 113-103 by Nottinghamshire at York.
Across the green, Durham had three winning rinks, Stanley’s Ian Peacock sneaking home 21-20 against D.Adams, Darlington’s Alan Stephenson beating A.Gilbert 16-13 and Hartlepool’s Keith Wilford winning against D.Ellwell 22-17.
However, the remaining three rinks went down by a combined total of 19 shots.
Rinks scores (Durham skips first): I.Peacock 2120 R.Adams, W.Ferry 10-18 R.Pearce, J.Hutchinson 2022 R.Maskell, B.Attwood 14-23 C.Stevenson, A.Stephenson 16-13 A.Gilbert, K.Wilford 22-17 D.Ellwell.
Stanley are hosting an open pairs competition on December 28-29 – the £700 (subject to 32 £30 entries) first prize will see a first-day round robin group of four for mat, followed by a second-day straight knock-out .