In their opening defence against Old Bleach in Randalstown on Friday night, Towers suffered defeat and had to settle for a brace of points secured by rinks skipped by David McCullough and David McCullough.

Old Bleach are never easy to beat on their home mats and they claimed a morale-boosting victory courtesy of emphatic rinks in each half for foursomes under the leadership of William Fullerton and Mervyn McDonald.

Ballymena United Social Club have made the perfect start in their bid to be crowned champions for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign, following up their 5-0 eclipse of JTI - formerly Gallaher - on opening day with another whitewash, this time against Moneyglass in a match that was switched to the Slemish Drive venue.

JTI, promoted with Moneyglass at the end of last season, may have got off to an inauspicious start on their return to the top tier of the District League, but they hit back strongly in their first home appearance of the campaign, taking three points off Michelin. However, the Woodside Road outfit got their season back on track 24 hours later, beating Old Bleach by 25 shots in a match that was postponed from the previous week.

Towers BC were always on the back foot against Old Bleach after William Fullerton thrashed Sammy Hall by 13 shots, posting counts of "4", "3" and "6" on the fourth, fifth and sixth ends. On the adjoining first half mat, David McCullough clawed back four shots, winning a low-scoring game against Alan Scott by an 8-4 margin.

In the second session, David Shields' Towers quartet overpowered Brian Trimble by 17 shots to six, seizing control with a "4" on the second end and a "5" two ends later, but Mervyn McDonald'12-3 defeat of Ivan Craig settled the contest in Old Bleach's favour. Mervyn got off to a good start with a "3" on the opening end, but the destination of the overall point was in the balance until the homesters weighed in with a "4" on the final end.

Moneyglass were outclassed by BUSC, the match being effectively over at the midway stage when Uel Fleming and newcomer Andrew Duncan had propelled the Ballymena side to a 24-shots lead. Things didn't get any better for last season's Division Two champions, with Henry Marron being blitzed 23-2 by Nigel Robinson and Tom Magee losing by six shots to Bryan Magrath.

Although Michelin secured the overall point by five shots, thanks to Matthew Boyd's 17-2 demolition of Bob McComb in the second half, it was JTI who emerged victorious in the Lisnafillan encounter.