Shields Vipers go through to semis after beating Leicester
The Shields Vipers booked a trip south for the latter stages of the Denny Cup after they beat Leicester 93-83 in the quarter-finals, although it was far from plain sailing.
At Leicester, in was a mixed day for the two Viper rinks, Shaun McIntosh went down 28-14 to Steve Wade while Paul Hartley was always ahead against Martin Allsopp eventually winning 21-16 to leave the away squad nine shots adrift.
At home it was another mixed bunch. Ian McIntosh lifted an early bowl out for seven but dropped a late six and eventually lost 29-23 against Tom Millership.
However, the team’s talisman David Bolt steered an outstanding Josh Halcrow, Dave Paterson and James Sneller to a match-winning 35-10 win over Darren Allsopp.
That left the home squad 19 shots up and sealed a 10-shot win overall.
The semi-finals and final are being held at Northampton on March 7.
In the semi-final, the Vipers will face St Neots - is it written in the stars that they will face holders Exonia again in the final?
If so, they will need to return to the standard of play they produced in the earlier rounds.
South Shields’ young gun Jaxon McKenna heads to Spalding today for the latter stages of the Under 25 singles competition.
In the last 16, McKenna will play Oyster’s Joseph Vandepeer. Defending champion Kingsthorpe’s Connor Cinato faces the 2018 winner St Neot’s Jamie Barker.
In the latest round of seniors inter club fixtures, the Houghton Gilpin lads notched their first win of the season as they beat play off hopefuls Darlington B 5-0 (+24).
All three Gilpin rinks won, K.Barnes beat S.Blewitt 20-7, Dennis Gibson beat T.Henderson 14-8 and Ronnie Robson beat S.Summers 17-12.
There was good news for the Houghton Sancroft squad, despite not having a game, their play off place was guaranteed as South Shields were beaten 4½-½ at Gateshead A.
With the group winners getting the advantage of a home draw in the play offs, Sancroft must beat Gateshead and hope Stanley drop points in their final two games.