STACKSTEADS remain in contention in the Ovalworld Super League despite a 4-2 reverse at St Annes while Witton boosted their season with a 4-2 win at Sunnybank.

Once again Rose 'N Bowl have made a good start to the campaign and were very unfortunate not to gain at least a share of the spoils against the championship fav- ourites.

Louis Stevenson gave them a great start when he slammed Gary Burke 21-11.

However, the next two results decided the outcome as captain John Tattersall and Jim Heys both went down by the narrowest of margins. Although both men had their chances it was nip and tuck in both thrilling finishes.

Spurred on by lucky escapes, St Annes took the next two games before Jim Lord recorded the second well-deserved point for the luckless visitors, 21-14.

Following two lacklustre performances, Witton returned to top form to defeat Sunnybank on their tricky Helmshore green.

Nevertheless it was Simon Haworth in his first start of the season who opened the scoring with an outstanding 21-7 success.

Mark Green replied with a solid 21-15 win for the visitors while the last first half game between Colin Campbell and Brian Haworth was slowly reaching an exciting climax.

Both men who featured prominently on the merit list last year provided an excellent game and special finish for the spectators who saw Colin sneak home 21-20. Such a hard-earned 2-1 half time lead gave the visitors further impetus as they put together three good second half performances.

Peter Slinger 21-14 and Mick Lee 21-15 ensured the 4-2 result before Fred Barlow edged out Brian Hoole 21-18 to give Sunnybank further consolation.

Ighten Mount were held 3-3 by Railway Hotel Lostock who led at the halfway stage 2-1.

Ken Topham who recorded the best of the day 21-9 kept their hopes alive, but in the second period Alan Fitzgerald 21-17 and Greg Chippendale 21-16 levelled up the scoreline.

Indeed, the Burnley team were close to adding to the score, but Fred Bulcock and Eric Beaver were both pipped by a couple of points on the run-in.

Reigning champions Alexandra have yet to click into gear as they did last year in their runaway title win.

But their share of the points at Bamber Bridge is a good result. Captain Vincent O'Donnell 21-10 opened their account, but Frank Harrison 21-9 and Larry Deery 21-15 gave the homesters a 2-1 lead at the interval.

Keith Illingworth added to the total 21-16 before both Brian Tomlinson and Terry Connell overturned a 19-17 deficit into a 21-19 success for the visitors.

Results: Bamber Bridge 3, Alexandra 3; Ighten Mount 3, Lostock 3; Ramblers 1, Frenchwood 5; Sunnybank 2, Witton 4; St Annes 4, Stacksteads 2.

Fixtures for Sunday: Bamber Bridge v Sunnybank; Frenchwood v Alexandra; Ighten Mount v St Annes; Stacksteads v Lostock; Witton v Rambers.

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