A close four shot win for First Bus earned them a 10-4 points victory at home to Horsford Heroes in the City of Norwich League. With both teams winning two games apiece the six match points earned for overall shots takes First Bus into second place in the league table. What proved to be pivotal was a big 16-5 result for home triple Rex Cox, Matthew Mills & Lianne Mills against Roger Frank’s Heroes triple while Bob Oatway’s triple added the Busmen’s second win of the night beating Vic Webster’s triple 10-8. Heroes points were earned with a solid 15-7 win by Chris Woodhouse’s triple and a one shot win for John Aggas against Steve Hall. Horsford Gold reeled off their third successive win to remain top of the table. They earned a 12-2 away win at Windows where Chris Warnes, Brian West & Mick Dale led the way beating Nigel Hurn’s triple 15-2. Chris Walsgrove’s triple won 12-4 while Craig Quantock’s triple added an 11-10 win. Costessey are third in the table after a 9-5 home win against Jarrolds with Wendy Tweed, David Newell & Graham Tweed producing a stunning 26-4 win against Roger Hart’s triple. Jarrolds won on two mats and drew the third game but could not score enough shots to repair the damage inflicted on them by Graham Tweed’s triple. After losing their opening two games Thorpe Marriott scored their first win of season collecting a 12-2 points victory away to British Rail. Gavin Gray, Andy George & Tony Turner were in good form winning 16-3 against Martin Douglas while Robin Amos won by 14-6 and Kath Frost won by 11-8. John Knights, Pat Baker & Caroline Banham scored British Rail’s only win of the evening beating Brian Turner’s triple 12-7. The Bure League season kicked off with Watton Expendables winning 8-2 at home to Hevingham. The first half was tight leaving both sides level on points at 2-2 at the interval and with the home side just two shots ahead. Barbara Smith, Andy Taylor-Ball & Jack Marshall won by 11-8 against Steve Easter, Teresa Goldsmith & Selwyn Goldsmith with a key last wood winner by Marshall on the tenth end paving the way to his triples win when they looked set to fall several shots behind. On the other mat Hevingham’s Paul Speak, Pat Hall & Richard Moore won by 13-12 against Andy Rawnsley, Robert Howlett & Simon Willies with Moore’s triple winning a tense final end. Richard Moore’s triple had built up a big 11-3 lead after eight ends but a change of playing order turned the game on its head. Robert Howlett moved to skip in place of Simon Willies and the home triple roared back to level the game at 12-12 with one end remaining before Moore’s triple secured their one shot win. In the second half the opening ends indicated that another close finish was on the cards. Expendables Gillian Amos, Andrew Smith & George Hume were leading Billie Barker, Val Easter & Melvyn Barker by 5-3 after seven ends while Elaine Willies, John Jeffery & Robin Amos led 9-6 after six ends against Hevingham’s Pat Saunders, Lesley Turner & Brian Turner. But the home side took control in both games as the night went on with Robin Amos’s triple winning 22-9 and George Hume’s triple winning 16-6. In the small but super strong Bure League defending champions Bob Carter will start as hot favourites to win the league again while Halvergate and Expendables will most likely be contesting for the runners-up spot. Hevingham are almost certain to face another season struggling for points in the Bure League despite fielding a team that would hold their own in any other Norfolk based league.
Lianne Mills 16-5 shots win for First Bus proved vital
26-4 win for Costessey's Graham Tweed against Jarrolds
Robin Amos was Expendables top scoring skip