Shottery B defeated Henley B 9 - 1 although the result was perhaps not a true reflection of their opponent's performance. Dave Milton was taken the distance by Robert McCluskey but, after a hard-fought encounter, went on to clinch the decider. The Henley captain did, however, have more luck when playing Tony Remes with his victory ensuring the whitewash was avoided. Gordon Trinder fought hard to take an early lead against Tim Fell before losing out, and he also gave Remes another close contest albeit with a similar result.
Nello Mauri has made a slow start to the season but seems to have picked up speed as he delivered the goods for Royal Mail. He put in a perfect performance against Ashorne, although his match with John Hunt was a close-run thing as the Postman had to overturn an early deficit to clinch victory over the distance. Hunt had better luck against Wilf Chan winning in straight games, while Mark Kingham pulled off an excellent win in the decider over Malcolm Heritage. However his opponent could consider himself unlucky as he accumulated more points during their encounter than Kingham. Royal Mail also claimed the doubles but the first game was longest in the league so far this season finally ending 18 - 16, as their team finished with an 8 - 2 scoreline.
Ashorne wrote no comments on their match card against Shottery A which was probably because the result spoke for itself as they crashed 0 - 10 to the league leaders. Gary Stewart, Graham Poole and John Price won all their singles matches without the loss of a game. Their only blip came in the doubles where they allowed the hosts a crumb of comfort before clinching the match in the fourth game which still enabled the celebratory drinks to be purchased in near-record time.
The two Henley teams were due to meet in a league fixture but, instead, decided to contest their overdue cup match. This was the second successive year that they had been paired together in the competition, and the seniors are probably hoping for another draw next year as they were impressed by the progress made by their second string who ensured it was a very close contest. Stuart Ayres proved the key player finishing 13 points to the good after the handicap adjustments. This enabled the A team of Ayres, Geoff Shepherd and Peter Quince to progress to the semi-final, albeit by a final difference of just six points.
Also through to the last four are Shottery B who had a much more convincing victory at FISSC. With less than an hour before the match was due to get underway this looked unlikely as a late call off meant they were seemingly able to field only two players. However, with minutes to go, Rob Poole was located and persuaded to turn out and he, Tim Fell and Dave Milton won by 169 points on the night which, even after the handicap, was more than enough to make certain of their progress.
