Houghton still in danger despite victory against relegated Ferryhill
In the latest round of interclub fixtures Houghton’s hopes of avoiding relegation hang by a thread despite them managing to beat bottom of the table side Ferryhill 7-3 (+22).
At Ferryhill Peter Thomson looked set for a handsome win, leading 20-7 against Kevin Wheallans.
Wheallans battled back into the contest in the last six ends and Thomson had to settle for a 20-19 win.
The other rink skipped by Dale Oram were always playing catch up against Colin Larcombe and in the end Oram went down 21-14 to leave the away squad six shots in arrears.
At Houghton both home rinks recorded wins.
Gary McPheators beat Ken Gill 20-11 while Alan J Dunn steered Michael Wright, Terry Todd and David
Wright to an impressive 25-6 victory against A.Cadman.
Those scores left the home leg 28 shots in Houghton’s favour which not only secured all the home points but also the overall total.
With one round of games left to be played and Ferryhill already relegated, the fight to avoid the remaining spot in the drop zone is still wide open.
Latest league table – Hartlepool 6-56, Gateshead B 5-33, Staley 5-24, Houghton 21½, Durham 21, Gt Aycliffe 20½, Ferryhill 5-4.
Final round of games – Houghton v Durham, Ferryhill v Aycliffe, Gateshead B v Stanley.
In the Seniors Inter club Houghton Sancroft ended their group fixtures with a comfortable 5-0 (+51) win over bottom of the group Gateshead A.
All three Sancroft rinks won with Peter Thomson, Trevor Joicey, David Wright and Frankie Froud romping to a 25-3 win over D.Smith, while John Jones beat John Wolfenden 27-8.
The whitewash was completed when Ian Whorlton cruised to a 17-7 victory in his match against Bill Bolan.
In order to top the group the Sancroft lads needed Stanley to slip up in their match, but that never materialised so Sancroft finished in second position and they will have to travel to Hartlepool A in the play-off quarter finals as a result.
The rest of the play-off draw sees Great Aycliffe take on Hartlepool B, Stanley host Darlington B and Darlington A make the trip to take on Durham B.