WEEK 5 LEAGUE REPORT
Oct 13 2005
Fieldside remain top of the Premier Division following a fine win at home to Witney A. It was honour even between Grant Conquest and Karl Walker, Conquest winning a tactical first frame, with Walker taking the second. Overall, this was a fair result even though Walker had chances to win both frames and was disappointed not to have done so. Bob Chivers then enjoyed a comfortable win against Phil Smith to put Fieldside in command. Paul Robinson beat Justin Buckingham in the penultimate frame to give Fieldside and unassailable lead. Hoping to retrieve something from the match, Buckingham broke in the final frame and smashed the pack from the back. However, this did him no favours and Robinson eased to victory 62-9, with reds still on the table.

Thame A suffered an humiliating defeat at the hands of arch rivals County A, going down 6:0 to the Bicester based club. Olly Hoeblyn set County on their way, winning both frames against Michael Bennett. The third frame was a low scoring affair, which saw Jimmy Ewers beat Dave Feore 40-17. Ewers made up for things in the fourth frame, winning it with a 47 clearance. Richard Tatton beat Martin Cone in the final two frames to complete the rout.

Division 1 side, Riley C, maintained their unbeaten start to the season with an impressive 4:2 win over their Premier Division rated club mates, Riley A. Gary Cowlin took the opening frame for the A team before James Stone replied to win the second. Chris Stone then put the C team ahead only for John Butcher to level thing once again. Andy MacBryan outplayed Ron Reddy over the final two frames to steer the C team home.

Oracle A maintained their impressive start to the season with a 5:1 win against struggling Woodstock A. Nigel Barker, making his first appearance of the season, beat Priyan Shah to take the opening frames for Oracle. Stuart Reeve took the third frame for Woodstock, but was unable to prevent Vince Taylor from winning the fourth frame. Ben Dudman wrapped up the remaining points for Oracle with a controlled performance against Justin Page.

Ashton A collected their third win of their Division Two campaign with a good 4:2 win away at Abingdon RBL A. Pete Fenn got Ashton off to a good start, winning the first two frames against Fred Brett, the second of which was taken on the black. Alan King followed suit against Bill Cook to give Ashton a 4-0 advantage, before John Dawson secured the remaining frames for Abingdon, against a below par Terry Chambers.

Witney B beat House Club B to record their first win of the season. Clive Burnett put the Witney side 2-0 ahead with a comparatively easy win against Keith Philpott. Stephen Hedges soon made it 3-0 with a 63-16 win over Tony Nichols who was standing in from House Club A in division four. To his credit, Nichols upstaged his division two counterparts by winning the 4th frame 55-28. This turned out to be House club's only frame of the night because Terry Cook beat Paul Larkins to take the final two frames of the match.

There are no prizes for guessing that Thame B's match with Riley D would end in a draw! Mark Syrett had little trouble against Greg Moyses in the opening frame, but made hard work of the second winning by just a single point, 40-39. Robert Adkins levelled the match for Riley with an easy win over Tom Fletcher. Anthony Roberts beat Nigel Bossom in a scrappy fifth frame to put Riley's ahead, but he was unable to capitalise and Bossom took the final frame to clinch Thame's FIFTH consecutive draw.

Division Three leaders Oracle C, chalked up another win with a 5-1 success at Cowley Con C. Mark Bayliss gave the home side an early lead with a 60-25 win against Simon Saunders in the opening frame, but that was to be as good as it got. Saunders replied in emphatic style, making breaks of 17,16 and 13 to win the second frame 69-17. Richard Saunders then defeated Jim Smart Jnr 54-44, 58-33 and made an 18 break in the process. Young Jamie Saczak several small breaks against Chick Wheatley to complete a very satisfactory result.

Riley E beat Cherwell B 6-0 for their 4th straight win to keep up the pressure on the leaders. Sadly for Cherwell, they were completely outclassed. Altaf Ali had no problems against Peter Astall, while Mark Clifford suffered at the hands of Joe Zhao. David Lo completed the rout against Mick Lomas.

Morris Motors B lost ground on the leaders following a draw with Thame D. Andy Maguire took the first two frames for Thame, only for James Kerr to beat Toby Todd to level things for the Motormen. Paul Smith snatched the 5th frame by just 2 points from Paul Evans, to put Morris's ahead, but Evans recovered to win the final frame.

Headington RBL A came back from 2-0 down to beat Morris Motors A and maintain their unbeaten start to the season. Des Truss beat Elaine Cox to put the visitors in front, but from then on Headington took command. Francis Maplethorpe edged the third frame 43-39 against Joe Kelly, before going on to with the fourth in convincing fashion. Brian Simmonds finished Morris's off with an easy win against Tony Baker.

County C continue to set the pace in Division Four thanks to a 5:1 win against lowly House Club A. Nigel Wilkinson took the first two frames against Sam Nichols before Nick Anderson made it 3-0. Tony Smith gave House Club some solace by winning the fourth frame, but Kevin Hicks beat Brian Field in the final pairing to compound House Club's misery.

Dave Hodgson got Oracle C got off to a "flyer" with a 48-11, 52-16 win against James Griffin of against Morris Motors C. Matty Bramall then beat Roger Tomlin 45-32 to make it 3-0 before Tomlin took the fourth frame to reduce the arrears Bob Hayward potted the last three balls, including a superb pink along the rail to snatch the fifth frame from Tom Cairns on the black to make it 3-2, before going on to win the final frame and complete Morris's comeback.

Ashton B stayed in touch with the leaders thanks to a 5:1 win at home to Eynsham B. Mick Lyne took the opening frame by a single point from Anthony Marshall to give Eynsham the lead, but from then on Ashton had the "rub of the green". Marshall replied to take the second frame 56-46. Kevin Leach defeated Alan Wakefield 53-32, 48-25 while M Woodward completed the formalities 45-36, 55-48 against Jason Stubbs.

In Division Five, Yarnton RBL let a 3-0 lead slip against a relieved Eynsham C. Lee Parsons took the first two frames from Adam Hingley before Mick Aust made it 3-0. Daniel Brooks took the fourth frame, thanks to breaks of 15 and 16 and began Eynsham's turnaround. Tim Bowles completed the revival beating Eddie Christiansen 49-40, 52-42.

New Club B moved into 4th place, leapfrogging their opponents Littlemore RBL B after a 4:2 win. Paul Moss and Matthew Challen did the damage, winning the first 4 frames of the match. Moss defeated Anthony Turner 56-46, 54-51 in two very close frames., while Challen beat Doug Turner 54-16, 42-27. Steve Fitzgerald beat Simon Marriott 46-12, 49-38 to restore some pride for Littlemore.