Steve Watts’ rink impresses as Priory extend lead at top of Portsmouth & District Bowls League City Division A table

Although Priory won all three rinks, they had to thank the 12-shot win by Steve Watts’ rink for the size of their victory, writes DAVE WILDMAN.

Second placed Vospers beat co-tenants Gas Social by 12 shots; winning on two rinks, they had to thank the 15-shot win on Terry Smith’s rink for their success.

Milton Park thrashed College Park by 34 shots, despite losing a rink!

That was because the rinks of Mick Molloy and Dave Brown both won by 19 shots.

In Division B, Waverley overtook Alex at the top of the table with a 68-shot home win over Cosham Park, not surprisingly having big wins on all three rinks.

Alexandra were having a tough battle at home against tenants Portsmouth Water, finally winning by just four shots. And they had to thank Paul Lawrence’s rink for the win as their 10-shot win covered the losses suffered on their other two rinks.

The match between Pembroke Gardens and Star & Crescent was another tight affair which saw Star ending up winning by a single shot.

Star had to thank Simon Filippi’s rink for the win, as they took control of their match after the 12th end to win the remaining six ends - picking up 10 shots in the progress.

That meant they just got over the winning line, but it was helped by the fact that all three Star rinks won their last end!

Havant & Waterlooville

With leaders Leigh Park’s game having been cancelled, Cowplain reduced their to two points but have played one match more.

However, Cowplain were made to struggle as two of the Denmead rinks proved they had come to terms with playing on carpet.

Cowplain finally won by 10 shots, thanks to the 22-shot win on Bryan Franklin’s rink, which covered the 17-shot loss at the hands of Brian Goldacre’s rink.

The other rink was taken by Cowplain as they won the last two ends to finally win by five shots.

The other match between Emsworth and Waterlooville resulted in a rare tie, the match score ending 50-50. Both Clubs won a rink with the third drawn.

Gosport & Fareham

There were champagne corks popping at Bridgemary as they finally recorded their first victory of the season.

What made it even better was that it was leaders Rowner who they beat and they only allowed their visitors a single point from a drawn rink.

It was the Andy Dawson rink they had to thank. Thirteen shots down with eight ends to play, the quartet proceeded to pick up 17 shots in that time to win by four.

Lee-on-the-Solent travelled to Gosport and returned with all the points after beating them by 27 shots on their carpet. They had big wins on the rinks of Martin Ellis and Dennis Wren.

The victory cut Rowner’s lead at the top to nine points and they both have to play each other twice.

Finally, Waverley Blue became the first side to claim a divisional crown as their win meant that Vospers couldn’t catch them in the Combination City A Division.