Both Brighton A and Worthing A maintained their 100 percent record in Division One, to set-up a top of the table clash in the re-arranged series four on Sunday 29th December.
Worthing A moved top by one leg with a 5-2 win away at West Sussex. Daniel Wheal continued his good Inter League record by winning the first for the hosts, but Worthing then took the next five legs with Martin Smith, Joe Oakley, Mike Daw and Kevin Tunstall winning with the break and Gerry Fitzjohn winning a tight game with Kevin Charlton against the break in the fourth leg. Barry Holt then ran the table out in the last to give the home team a second leg.
Brighton A had some player availability issues and travelled to Tunbridge Wells with only six players but still came away with a 4-3 win. All the legs went with the break with Pete Sainsbury and Martin Russell winning for the hosts and Kevin Hall, Matthew Knight and father and son Bob and Phil Osborne getting the points for the away team. Tunbridge Wells got the walkover in the seventh leg.
Redhill A edged a close game with Brighton B with the deciding leg going down to the wire. Jean Brackenridge put the home team ahead but wins for Dave Jones and Geoff Jukes gave Redhill the lead. Victories for Jack Baden (Brighton B) and John Slee (Redhill A) meant all games had gone with break and Redhill still held a one leg lead going into the sixth leg. Alan Brackenridge won against the break to give Brighton B the advantage however Gary Powell beat Marcus Chipman by 240 points in the last leg to give Redhill A the win.
There were shocks aplenty in the Division Two versus Division Three fixtures with the lower division teams coming out on top in three of the four matches. The Division Two teams had won all four of the first round of fixtures at home in Series Four but found life more difficult on the road.
Division Two leaders Redhill B went down 5-2 at Division Three bottom side Hastings with Chris Haynes, Mick Osborne, Jamie Minihane, Clive Minihane and Sandy Harmer winning for Hastings and Martin Pellett and Alex Hornby getting the legs for the visitors.
The most one sided game was in Brighton where the ‘C’ team recorded a 6-1 win against a poor Horsham team. Steve Hurley, Brian Muggeridge, Kevin Stoner, Darren Robins and DJ Robins won for Brighton and they were given the sixth leg with Horsham not having seven players. Late replacement Steve King was Horsham’s only winner.
Lewes were also winners for Division Three with a closely fought 4-3 win against Worthing B. Jan Bithell, Colin Southouse, Chase Newman and Richard Todd got the points for the hosts while Rick Cunningham, Alan Messer and Tony Jenner recorded wins for the away team.
Division Two’s only winners on the night were bottom side Littlehampton who beat the top team in Division Three Mid Sussex by a score of 4.5 to 2.5. Andy Farmer-Wright and Derek Taylor both won with the break for the home team but wins for James Whittle, Chris Lawman, Colin Green and Dave Hampton in the last gave Littlehampton the two points. Mick Kirwan and Steve Beach played out a draw in the fifth leg.