The Western Cars Autumn League Fourth Round

Top played bottom in the first match on Monday evening and true to form the Avensis team remained in pole position after a 53-43 victory over the Prius outfit. The formidable pairing of John Griffen and Jenny Humphries got the Avensis of to a flyer with victory over Roger Howe and Heather Boles. Donal Burns and Leonie Madigan increased the lead when they got the better of Ann Elliott and Enda Love before Wilf Greene and Bridie McCaffrey gave the Prius their first victory of the evening with a narrow victory over Kevin Burns and Maxine Leary. The final game in the mixed ended up with another victory for the Avensis to give Leonie’s team a 28-20 half time lead. John G and big Donal started the doubles with a 7-5 win over the Undertaker and the Clabby Stroller and when Jenny and Leonie won their match against Heather and Ann the Avensis team were practically out of sight. Wilf and Alan Reynolds to their credit kept the Yaris driving hard and their victory over Kevin and Brian Donaldson gave Bridie’s team a glimmer of hope however a draw in the last game between herself and Linda Moore and Maxine and Ann-Louise Carney was not enough to rescue her crew and indeed the Prius outfit are now struggling at the back of the grid and face a long hard struggle if they are to qualify from this group. The Avensis on the other hand are cruising along nicely and look good for a semi final berth even at this early stage.

The late match saw Ruth Armstrong’s Yaris take on Bernie Cornyn’s Corollas. These teams have had very contrasting fortunes to date with the Corollas battling it out with the Avensis at the top while the Yaris are back in third place. Derek Elliott and Bernie won the opening match 7-5 against Glen Mowatt and Linda Corrigan to steer the Corollas into an early lead. Paul Lendrum and Moira McAdam then shared a thrilling match with Cormac Jordan and Helen Cooper. Conor “B” MacMahon and Sonja Hateboer increased the Corollas lead with a comfortable win over Garth Armstrong and Ruth and this was quickly followed by another Corollas victory when Iain Kennedy and Kathleen Murphy beat Eamon Razor Rasdale and Jenny Cruikshank to give them a formidable 31-17 half time lead. The opening men’s doubles between Glen and C.J and Derek and big Lendy was a hugely entertaining affair, with both sides giving it loads before ending up all square. Garth and Razor gave the Yaris their first victory of the evening to reduce the Corollas lead when they edged out Conor “B” and big Iain before Linda C and Cooperwoman had a battling draw with Bernie and Moira. The final match ended up in another Corollas win when the flying Dutch woman and Kathleen were too strong for Yaris skipper Ruth and the galloping gourmet Jenny C, giving them a resounding 58-38 victory to leave them level at the top of the table with the Avensis team.

The opening game on Wednesday was a top of the table clash between current leaders Rav 4s and second placed Amazons. The Amazons took the early initiative when Davy “P” Thompson and Ita Hughes defeated Trevor Verner and Louise McGann 8-4. In fact there was something about that particular scoreline as first Hugh Maguire and Liz Murphy defeated John Reihill and Heather Guy 8-4 to level up the match and then Cyril Boyd and Sheila Colville restored the Amazon’s lead with yet another 8-4 victory over Martin Sharkey and Mary Griffin. The final game in the mixed saw the Rav 4s square the match for the second time when Atif Manzoor and Fiona McClintock defeated Seamus O’Connell and Carol Livingstone by, yes you’ve guessed it, 8-4. As in the mixed the Amazons were first to get into top gear with two early wins. Firstly, Davy “P” and J.R seeing off T.V and Hugh 7-5 quickly followed by another 7-5 victory when Ita and Heather defeated Louise and Murph. Sharks and Atif then drew with Boydy and Seamus to leave the outcome of the match depending on the final game. And so it was left to the experienced pairing of Mary Griff and Fiona to steer the Rav 4s to a memorable 49-47 win with victory over Amazon’s skipper Sheila and Carol.

The final match in week four of the Autumn league featured Bernie Hall’s Versos against Innes Redmond’s Land Cruisers. Both teams needed a comprehensive victory to make up ground on the team in pole position the Rav 4s. The first game was a close run thing with Dominick Burns and Bernie pipping Jenny Humphries and opposing skipper Innes 7-5. Sean Bogue, making his first competitive appearance of the season, and Brenda Davies then drew 6-6 with Ann White and Reg Bruce. Patricia Durnien and Reggie Ferguson also drew their match with Keith Miller and Enid Redmond before Alan Reynolds and Helen Gilmour extended the Verso’s lead with a 7-5 victory over Anthony Maguire and Roisin O’Connell. The Land Cruisers took the opening men’s doubles when Innes and the Bogeyman smashed up the Versos pairing of Dom and Reg. Jenny and Brenda had a 6-6 draw with Bernie and Ann before Keith and Alan defeated Reggie and Anthony 7-5 to leave the match all square. The overall result would therefore be decided by the outcome of the final game between Patricia and Roisin and Enid and Helen. The latter pairing held their nerve to ensure victory for the Versos and close the gap on the Amazons to just one point in the league table.

Western Cars Autumn League Results
Monday Played Points Wednesday Played Points
Avensis 4 216 Rav 4's 4 206
Corollas 4 216 Amazons 4 192
Yaris 4 170 Versos 4 191
Prius 4 166 Land Cruisers 4 179

The Teams for Mondays and Wednesdays plus the schedule of matches can be downloaded from the Leagues page.

Matches are also shown on the weekly calendar.