ELMORE Club beat Settler Boys to reduce the gap at the top of Division A of the Sampford and Peverell league to just two points.

Elmore and Globe Appley B share second place, and Bellies one more point behind.

All Blacks lead in Division B went back to three points, as they won and The Ponies lost.

In Division C Lion Cubs inc-reased their points difference to six over Catherine Wheel and Halfway House.

DIVISION A: results – Elmore Club 367, Settler Boys 357; Bradninch C Club 472, The Hounds 481; Castaways 346, Globe Appley B 358; Brass Monkeys 377, Redwoods 365; Barmy Army, bye; Globetrotters 393, Lumberjacks 382; Queens Head 353, Bellies 368; Globe Appley 358, Calverleigh 363.

High Scores: 83 – L Dixon (The Hounds, three spares one of 22); Rob Acton (Bradninch C Club, three spares); D Trump (Bradninch C Club, four spares); 66 – Alistair Bussell (Brass Monkeys, two spare); 65 – S Hodge (The Hounds, two spares).

Reports: Elmore Club won a close game over Settler Boys, thereby reducing the gap in the table between the teams. There was very little to choose between them, but Elmore pulled out that little extra when needed.

There was another frustrating day at the office for Bradninch C Club as they saw The Hounds post a five-spare 104 last leg to take the points. After four legs the home team were 16 pins ahead, but the away boys went mad and won by nine.

Though Castaways were just ahead after two legs, Globe Appley B won the next three by enough to secure the points and stay equal second in the league.

Brass Monkeys and Redwoods have the dubious honour of sharing the relegation spot. The home boys won four legs, and the fifth was shared.

Globetrotters shared the first leg with Lumberjacks but then won the middle legs to go 23 pins ahead. The Jacks won the fifth leg by 15, but that was not enough to take the points away.

Queens Head caught and overtook Bellies after two legs, but the away team pulled away again, and this time Queens could not catch them.

Globe Appley had a good start to their game with Calverleigh as after three legs they were 12 pins up, but the away team pulled those back and more to take away the points.

DIVISION B: results – Barley Mow 414, The Beare 375; HCC1 356, The Merriemeade 349; Bullocks 388, Crossways 421; Ayshford Arms 411, The Agri-Nuts 385; Uplowman 386, All Blacks 393; The Ponies 391, Bickleigh 393; Roy’s Rebels 345, Oggies 378; Bradninch RBL, bye.

High Scores: 70 – R Stoneman (Crossways, three spares).

Reports: Barley Mow dropped only three pins on their way to a 38 pin win over The Beare giving the home team a share of third.

HCC1 went nine down in the first two but battled back winning all remaining rubs to beat The Merriemeade by a close seven.

Bullocks played an in-form Crossways with the away team only dropping pins on the second to cruise to a 33 pin win.

Although Ayshford Arms and The Agri-Nuts shared the rubs the home team made theirs count coming out 26 pins to the good.

Uplowman led division leaders All Blacks with two rubs to go but the table-toppers fought hard to take the lead at the right time to win by seven.

The Ponies were 28 pins to the good after four rubs against Bickleigh, but instead of lying down the away side posted rubs giving them a 30 pin pull stealing the game by two pins.

Roy’s Rebels and Oggies both had seven players, but the away side played well and won easily by 33 pins.

DIVISION C: results – Tiverton Chiefs 405, Booze Cruzers 379; Ashill Inn 378, Halfway House 365; Rose & Crown 383, Huntsham A 370; Catherine Wheel 396, Tiverton RBL 359; The Farmers 416, The Travellers 394; Lion Cubs 447, HCC2 419.

High Scores: 77 – Andrew Disney (The Farmers, four spares); 71 – Phil Payne (HCC2), P Fyles (Lion Cubs) both three spares.

Reports: Tiverton Chiefs had a useful home win against Booze Cruzers by 26 pins to take them to a point behind their guests in the table. Chiefs started well and were 22 up after the first two legs. After Chiefs added another five pins it left Cruzers chasing two 79s to win. The fifth leg yielded 77, but the last ended up a disappointing 53.

Ashill Inn rose to the challenge of a top team visiting and beat Halfway House by 13. Ashill were five down after two legs, but brought that to a single pin after four. A good finish from Ashill left Halfway with a big target, which they missed. The loss leaves Halfway six points behind the leaders in joinr second.

Rose and Crown also had a 13 pin win against visitors Huntsham A. Huntsham were on first and found themselves 11 down after two legs. The other four legs were shared, with R&C picking up another couple of pins.

An excellent start from Catherine Wheel with two seventy plus legs left Tiverton RBL playing catch up all the way, as the home team ran out emphatic winners, and go back into joint second place.

The Farmers notched up their first home win of the season against The Travellers to bring a nine match losing run to an end. Farmers were straight out of the shed to go two up after two legs, which became 13 up after four. Travellers were left chasing a big target at the end and fell 22 short. There was a great 77 from man of the match Andrew Disney.

Lion Cubs reversed the result of their previous home game against HCC2 taking a nice two points to give themselves a six point cushion at the top of the table. In a low scoring game for the alley, there were just two big scores, both of 71 – one for Phil Fyles of Lion Cubs and one for Phil Payne for HCC2.