Teams involved in the title race for the Premier division swapped around this week as Mitford A lost 9-1 to Cramlington Casuals and NESLC Eagles beat Mount A 7-3. Steve Penman regained some form as he won his hat-trick for the Casuals, Andrew Wilkinson winning his 3 as usual and Peter Smallcombe taking 2. Dale Aitkenhead was the only player to take a match for the home side. Jim Stamas earned a well-deserved Player of the Match award for the NESLC Eagles as he won his 3 against Graeme Barella, Anthony Ainley and Phil Prady for Mount. Ainley did well to win 2 of his matches but it wasn’t enough as Richard Wilson won 2 and Paul Baines won 1 for the Eagles. At the other end of the table, Byker A faced Old England Jacks in a close-fought 5-5 draw. Dean Eadington was the saviour for his team as he won his 3 but Steve Dickinson did well to win 2 too. David Craddock was unfortunate to lose two 5-end matches against his old teammates Alan Atkinson and Jacob Helm.

Craddock also played in division 1 for Byker B this week but found this an even sterner test than the Premier division as he was unable to win any in an 8-2 loss. Paul Jamieson and Alex Hinchcliffe vied for Player of the Match as they both won 3 but the pair couldn’t combine to win the doubles. Mark Kimberley beat Alistair Colin to win the only singles match for his team. Mitford B were unable to field 3 players away to Mount and lost 6-4 as a result. Keming Li from NECA B introduced himself to the league spectacularly with a hat-trick over Newton A to help his team win 6-4 and Newton B lost by the same score to Matfen Centurions.