Cliff-hanger in League Cup semi-final

Social Club and Towers will start the second leg of their tie in exactly the same manner as they did the first - all square - after a 37-37 tie in Ahoghill.

But BUSC are formidable opponents on the Slemish Drive mats and they will feel they have put themselves in pole position with their performance in the away leg.

Social Club fielded one of their strongest line-ups of the season against the defending cup holders and league champions, with Irish international Jonathan Millar among their ranks.

In the first half, Uel Fleming's Social Club rink defeated Sammy Hall 12-6, with a '4' on the sixth end the biggest score.

On another end, a thunderbolt of a delivery from Uel turned a potential loss of six shots into a two shot gain - such are the fine margins on which bowls matches can turn!

Despite that win, Social Club still trailed by six shots at the break, as a result of David McCullough's 16-4 eclipse of Garfield Lithco.

In an object lesson of scoring heavily on winning ends, 13 of those shots came on just three ends, with a '6' on the fourth end putting David's rink in firm control at 8-1 up.

That was followed up with a '4' two ends later and a '3' on the ninth end compounded the misery for Garfield, who doesn't often lose by such a convincing margin.

Back came Social Club after the break with Bryan Magrath's rink recording a 14-4 win over Graham Maybin.

A '4' on the second end gave Bryan's rink some early breathing space and he also notched '3's on the fourth and seventh ends to maintain a comfortable cushion throughout.

But David Shields ensured that the second leg will start from a position of parity with an 11-7 victory over Nigel Robinson, aided by counts of '4' on the fifth and ninth ends.

But if that semi-final is poised on a knife-edge going into the second leg, the same cannot be said of the other semi, where Services 'A' have opened up a decisive 22-shot first leg lead over their 'B' team club-mates.

The 'B' team will receive a 10-shot handicap allocation but even then, it looks like too steep a hill for the third division side to surmount.

The historic meeting was keenly contested for the most part, but thanks to the efforts of Mark Shaw's rink - who demolished Eric Smyth by 26 shots to one - it's Services 'A' who are in the box seat.

The writing was on the wall for Eric's foursome as the 'A' rink notched counts of '4' on the second, third and fourth ends - a rare 'hat-trick' indeed.

And there was further salt rubbed in Smyth's wounds as Shaw hammered home their superiority with a '7' on the eighth end.

Earlier in the evening, it had been much closer, with Services 'A' opening up a six-shot interval leads, with Pauline Wilson and Bill Kitson's rinks each winning by three shots.

In Pauline’s case, that had seemed an unlikely outcome as she trailed 7-0 after five ends against Greta Coulter but a stunning fightback saw Pauline win the last five ends, with a ‘4’ on the final ends pinching the overall victory - a case where, if you’re only going to be in the lead once in a match, then after the final end is the time to do it!

There was another unusual occurrence where Roy Dickson’s rinks won six of the 10 ends against Bill Kitson but still ended up losing 14-10.

That was largely due to a ‘7’ for Bill on the third end, backed up by a total of five shots on the seventh and eighth ends, while he also nicked a single on the final end.

The other game saw George Beattie’s rink edge out Sheila Smith by nine shots to eight.

The second legs will be played week commencing February 22.