Towers extend lead as challengers drop points

TOWERS strengthened their position at the top of Division One of the Ballymena and District League in a week where dropped points for the would-be title contenders was something of a common thread.

The league champions might have been surprised to lose a point on their visit to struggling JTI - but they still extended their lead at the summit as some of the other challengers frittered away points.

Towers were comfortable 21-shot winners at Lisnafillan where Len McIlroy's JTI rink scored counts of '4' on the sixth and ninth ends to secure a 14-8 success over David Shields, thereby depriving the league leaders of a 'full house'.

It was more comfortable for the Ahoghill side on the other rinks, with a '5' on the second end and a strong finish of six shot from the last four ends giving David McCullough a 13-6 win over Timothy Rock.

In the second half, a '4' on the eighth end for Graham Maybin's rink was the decisive moment in a low-scoring 8-6 win over Brian Russell, while Sammy Hall's foursome inflicted an uncharacteristically heavy defeat (20-2) on Billy Lynn.

Towers have a five-and-a-half-point cushion over BPFA 'B', who took the lion's share of the points from a closely contested game against BUSC, with the home side edging home by two shots at Knockan Road.

It was all square at the break with Robert Black's 9-7 win for Broughshane over Nigel Robinson nullified when Mal Norton beat David Morrison - making a rare appearance on District League duty - by the same score.

Alistair McCullough's three-shot win over Richard Fleming ultimately proved the difference between the sides as, although Bryan Magrath claimed a second point for Social Club against Alan Cahoon, he was only able to claw back one shot of the overall deficit, leaving Broughshane winners by 35 shots to 33.

Michelin missed an opportunity to gain ground on the leaders as they dropped two points at bottom side Moneyglass.

They were ahead by a shot at the interval with Adi Davidson's 10-5 win over Thomas Close outweighing Kieran Teague's four shot success over Grant Robinson.

After the interval, Wesley Caldwell put some daylight between the sides' overall shots totals with a 15-7 win over Tommy Magee but Moneyglass battled to another point when Henry Marron's foursome overcame Chris Wilson.

Michelin have won seven matches - the same number as leaders Towers - but they haven't been able to post four and five point hauls on as regular a basis as the league leaders.

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