Top House miss chance for rare win in Syston & District Skittle League

Top House missed a golden opportunity to register a rare victory over Syston & District Skittle League leaders and reigning champions, Wymeswold Cons as they were beaten 3-1.

Returning to their home alley after a three month gap for renovations, Top House took the opening leg after Wymeswold recorded a surprisingly below par leg of just 19 pins.

The home side were favourites to make it 2-0 after being set a sub-standard 21 by the struggling visitors only to fall five pins short with Wymeswold then taking advantage by going on to snatch the third leg and establish a 2-1 lead.

Top House again looked well placed to level the match on the night when chasing 28 in the final leg only to fall one pin short after their last man, needing five to tie and six to win, threw a four with two misses to leave Wymeswold breathing a huge sigh of relief at being able to record what had at times through the evening seemed an unlikely 3-1 victory.

It was the first time since February 2024 that Wymeswold had failed to post an aggregate score over 100 pins with the Top House alley living up to its billing as one of the most unforgiving in the league.

The result sees Wymeswold retain top spot, still two points ahead of Syston Cons having played a game more. 

Mick West for Top House claimed top score on the night and was, to underline the low scoring nature of the game, the only player between the two sides to reach 20 pins.

Syston Cons made it five wins from five and remain the only unbeaten side after their fifth 3-1 win of the season against visitors Sileby WMC. 

After a wide margin win for Syston in the opening leg, the visitors levelled on the night when holding on by just one pin in the second leg. 

Syston went on to take charge of the game from that point on with a competitive total of 34 in the third leg, including a stack-up of 10 from Graham Spawton, proving too much for the visitors.

The home side followed up by comfortably chasing down their target in the final leg to confirm the 3-1 victory.

Dave Clark continued his impressive start to the season with an excellent 28 and was well supported by Graham Spawton's 25. 

Syston's win helped them to retain second spot in the League, two points behind Wymeswold but with a game in hand.

Cons claimed bragging rights in the Carington derby with a comfortable 3.5-0.5 victory over the Arms. 

After a tie in the opening leg, the ‘home’ side impressively took control with three successive legs of 30+ that Carington Arms just couldn't match.

All six Carington Cons players registered scores between 19 and 23 on the night to underline their consistency.

Ade Marriott with 24 for Carington Arms was however the top scorer on the night.

The win allowed Carington Cons to leapfrog their rivals at the foot of the table with Carington Arms now one of only two sides yet to record a victory this season.

A closely fought contest at Barrow saw Barrow Cons  and Queniborough Wanderers share the points after a 2-2 draw. 

Visitors Queniborough established an early lead after Alan Whitmee's nine helped them to a narrow margin win in the opening leg. 

Barrow quickly hit back to take the next two legs before Queniborough's competitive 31 in the final leg proved to be a chase too far for the home side.

Little between the two sides on the night suggested the draw was a fair result.

Alan Whitmee's 24 was the highlight for Queniborough while Scott Price and Brent Dalby both scored 24 for a Barrow side that now move into third place in the League albeit six points behind leaders Wymeswold.