FOR the first time in the Association's history, a club will provide two teams for the final of a knockout competition.

Blackburn Juniors dominated the Wilson Plate's two pools and their sides will meet each other in the final on April 22. The Juniors A team were up against stiff opposition from Olympic C and the visitors almost caused an upset.

Juniors needed to win almost all their matches to go through and though Olympic were always in with a chance, even when a 98 ace handicap was added, they still lost by eight aces.

The other semi-final was almost as exciting, with the B team taking 174 aces against a strong Telecom B side which saw them home comfortably by 101 aces after the handicap.

In the Times Cup, Division One champions YMCA A have often appeared to be handicapped out of the competitions, but this year things were different and they reached the semi-final by virtue of some stirring battles in the earlier rounds. Although the YM won all their games, they allowed the visitors, Belgrave Carpets A, to score some valuable aces and this was sufficient to clinch the match by 14 aces. In the other match, British Aerospace played much better than their league position dictates, finishing only just behind the Second Division champions St Philip's. This overall team performance - particularly the ladies - gave the Space side victory by 85 aces after they proudly finished just 18 aces behind in straight scores.

The Smith Cup saw an exciting match where Olympic A and Westholme finished level on aces.

Olympic got much the better of the mixed doubles, but were somewhat outplayed in the level doubles.

However, underdogs Westholme managed to clinch the match by virtue of a 47-ace handicap. The other semi-final finished rather surprisingly in favour of Abacus, who fully deserved their win as they doggedly kept up the pressure on Stanhill B.

In the league programme, many promotion and relegation battles have still to be resolved, and will hinge on the last matches of the season. St Nicholas B took the Fifth Division championship following their win over Blackburn Juniors B.

Following their win over Accrington Falcons in the Third Division, St Nicholas A are now in with a chance of promotion and will feature either as runners-up or be involved in a play-off.

They completely outplayed Accrington Falcons who could now be relegated depending on the result of their last match of the season.

Results - Times Cup semi-finals: YMCA A 240, Belgrave Carpets A 254; BAe 297, St Philips 212.

Smith Cup semi-finals: Olympic A 182, Westholme 229; Stanhill B 155, Abacus 220. Wilson Plate semi-finals: Blackburn Juniors B 323, Telecom B 224; Blackburn Juniors A 223, Olympic C 215.

Division One: Salesbury A 15-236(19), YMCA C 1-86(2).

Division Three: Brockhall B 10-217(14), Belgrave Carpets B 6-191(9); St Nicholas A 13-228(17), Accrington Falcons 3-144(5).

Division Five: Blackburn Juniors B 2-65(3), St Nicholas B 14-232(18).

Fixtures for April 11 - Representative: Mid Lancs v Blackburn.

April 20 - Times Cup Final: BAe v Belgrave Carpets A (Audley Sports Centre), 7.30pm.

April 22 - Smith Cup Final: Westholme (120) v Abacus (Audley Sports Centre), 7.30pm.

Wilson Plate Final: Blackburn Juniors A v Blackburn Juniors B (124) (Audley Sports Centre), 7.30pm.

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