Bates has unbeaten singles run ended

ANDY Bates suffered his first singles defeat of the season in the Porters derby match and subsequently only two points now separate the top six singles placings in the Monday Premier League.

John Mann (100x15) ended his 11-game unbeaten run, taking legs in 14 and 16 before winning 3-1, which inspired Porters A to an 8-3 defeat of Porters B.

Bates still tops the singles table but has been joined on 34 points by Kieran Burns who, in winning 3-1, took out a 14-darter but he could not however prevent Maritime B from losing 7-4 away at Firkin Scholar.

League leaders Maritime A became the first team to go over 100 points for the season when they defeated Bluebird 9-2, inspired by a good performance from Tony Lamerton (100x15).

In a high-quality 601 doubles which produced 12 scores of a ton or more, Lamerton partnered Dan Scott to a 2-1 success aided by a leg in 16, the one leg that eluded them was taken by Tony Reid and John Owen in 20.

Outshots of 106 and 125, executed by Al Rowe, was the highlight of Indian A’s 8-3 success at Steam Packet A while Indian Inn B won four of the six singles which enabled them to edge out Brookside B 6-5.

TOP MAN(N): John Mann ended the unbeaten singles run of Porters' stablemate Andy Bates when he defeated him 3-1, aided by legs in 14 and 16.

Steam Packet B won 9-2 away at City Social but the hosts had Phil Hoskins as their only singles success when he finished a 15-dart leg with an ousthot of 120, before going on to a 3-2 victory.

In the battle between the basement teams, Prince Maurice B won their first match of the campaign when they overcame fellow strugglers Ford Hotel 8-3.

Shakespeare won 7-4 at Octagon Social Club and had Rich Coomb hitting a 14-dart leg in a 3-1 win but there were some good performances from the hosts as well.

Alfie Ford partnered Paul Barclay to a 2-0 doubles win, aided by a leg in 16, before going on to take his singles in 19, 19 and 20.

Team-mate Steve Daley also caught the eye when he won his individual game 3-2, aided by a brace of 180s.

Scott Lawrey hit two maximums in a 3-1 success and Keelan Kay (100x13) top scored as Brookside A triumphed 8-3 over Prince Maurice A.

The Eggbuckland side had Glenn Halford taking his singles in three straight legs and finished a 15-darter with the week’s highest checkout of 136.

Other notable outshots were achieved by Dan Johnson (127), Paul Barclay (110), Nick Bryant (110) and Kev Bridgeman (100).