MAJOR mover on the Evalast Merit leaderboard was John Chatwin who had another tremendous score to add to his total and has reached his best-ever position at number five.

Chatwin also leads his Great Harwood team mates for the first time and it will be interesting to see if he can hold onto a slender one point lead.

David Hoyle, who lost top place and Stuart Gall were both disappointed to lose ground in the merit race.

Ray Turner and previous champion Malcolm Wensley moved up four places after good away victories.

Geoff Alderson is enjoying an excellent start to the season and remains undefeated after four games that has yielded fine points and a massive 35 total.

Top men Dave Darley, Terry Wood and Andrew Harley are sure to feature in the merit championship and already have impressive records.

Leaderboard: Dave Darley (Brownedge) 7 points, 34 total; Terry Wood (St Annes) 7, 16; Andrew Harley (Brownedge0 6, 34; David Hoyle (Alexandra) 6, 31; John Chatwin (Great Harwood) 6, 26; Linden Carr (Brownedge) 5, 41; Stuart Kenyon (Frenchwood) 5, 36; Geoff Alderson (Rose N'Bowl) 5, 35; Malcolm Wensley (Great Harwood) 5, 15; Ray Turner (Great Harwood) 5, 7; Stuart Gall (Great Harwood) 5, 6; Glyn Dodd (Great Harwood) 5, level; Graham Myers (Lostock Hall) 4, 35; Brian Oakes (Birches) 4,32; Alan Lancaster (Birches) 4, 21; Dave Barnish (Brownedge) 4, 14; Nick Kershaw (Birches) 4, 11; Peter Wilding (Frenchwood) 4, 8; Brian Tomlinson (Alexandra) 4, 8; Don Yeadon (St Annes) 4, 3; Del Webster (Birches) 4, level.

Harwood recovering Super League form

SUPER League reigning champions Great Harwood are slowly coming back to form and a 4-2 win at Rose N'Bowl was a good result.

After a disappointing home draw last week, this was a welcome return to the victory trail and puts them in the title chase once again.

But it was no pushover with the Stacksteads team, who opened the score thanks to Geoff Alderson who was the star home player 21-8.

John Chatwin replied for the visitors 21-11 before Ray Turner won an exciting duel with Jim Melling 21-20 to give Harwood a 2-1 lead at the interval.

After the break Tony Dobson 21-10 and Malcolm Wensley 21-13 secured the result with impressive displays.

John Hamer added an extra point for Rose N'Bowl 21-17 but the team remain well adrift of the league leaders.

Witton were unfortunate to meet an improving Farington team who registered their first win of the campaign 4-2.

John Birkett and Derek Smith were in irresistible form for the visitors and both won almost unchallenged by the same 21-12 margin.

However, the same could be said for the Farington men Phil Snape 21-7, Derek Holding 21-9, Graham Pilkington 21-14 and Mark Birtwistle 21-15 who were all comfortable winners.

Disappointment in the Alexandra camp after a full 6-0 eclipse at Birches.

No doubt this was the surprise result of the day but really the scores were astonishingly abysmal.

Only three of the six players reached double figures while no one came near posing a threat to their opponent. If this team who were fancied as possible title contenders are to remain in the championship race they cannot afford results like this one.

Brownedge are now hot favourites for the coveted crown after another big win, this time over Frenchwood 5-1 and now lead the division by six points.

Results: Birches 6 Alexandra 0; Brownedge 5 Frenchwood 1; Farington 4 Witton 2; Rose N Bowl 2 Great Harwood 4; St Annes 6 Lostock Hall 0.

TABLE

P W D L Pts

Brownedge... 5 5 0 0 25

Gt Harwood... 5 3 1 1 19

St Annes... 5 3 0 2 19

Birches... 5 3 0 2 16

Frenchwood... 5 2 2 1 15

Alexandra... 5 2 1 2 15

Rose N'Bowl... 5 1 1 3 12

Witton... 5 1 0 4 11

Farington... 5 1 1 3 10

Lostock H... 5 1 0 4 8