TEAM of the moment Queen's Park who have recently hit a rich vein of form, clashed with Whitbread in a magnificent match this week in Division One which went right down to the wire.

Although second placed Queen's Park took an early lead, Garth Winder, Eddie Pilling and Ged Simpson soon regained their composure to beat Rachel McHugh and Eddie's victory over veteran Dave Pilkington made the match all square after eight games.

Young David Pilkington, who was unfazed by the pressure, overwhelmed Garth in the deciding game to give Queen's Park the edge before father and son demolished Whitbread in the doubles to record a hard-fought 6-4 triumph - their fifth consecutive victory so far this season.

Audley House 2nd clinched a very well-earned 5-5 draw against Unison before suffering an 8-2 beating at the hands of Queen's Park 2nd. Jim Fielding and Steve Richardson earned two wins each for the home side, but Wyndham Johnstone was the man of the match defeating Mark Gleave, Steve Lyons and Tony Corless to take maximum points on the night. In Division Two, Nigel Jump's solitary victory over Dave Naylor was to no avail as runaway leaders Darwen URC, with a much more solid and resilient outfit, extended their unbeaten run to seven games after trouncing H&S Plumbers 3rd 9-1 away.

Likewise, BT experienced a 9-1 scoreline, but were on the wrong end of it when they crashed to second-placed Unison 2nd at home. Although Janet Rybicki salvaged a point by beating Stuart Elliott, Denis Oldham and Dennis Walsh cruised through the match to leave BT struggling in the relegation zone.

The victorious trio of Roy Duerden, Derek Jepson and Paul Melling ended a run of disappointing results for Darwen URC 2nd by winning 6-4 at home against Westend. However, Westend, with John Thompson and Aldo Staffa in buoyant mood, bounced back on their home territory to take maximum points against Audley House 4th and record a splendid 6-4 victory.

But Audley House 4th can momentarily breathe a sigh of relief as they held out for a 5-5 draw against third-placed Fire Brigade A which lifts them off the bottom of the table into seventh position.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.