Week 18 September 9th

SECTION 4 TITLE RACE GOES DOWN TO THE WIRE
The last remaining section to be decided, Section 4, will now go to a dramatic play-off after both title contenders, Red Lion Cassington and Bletchingdon Sports, won their final league games 3-0. Going into the final night, the two sides were locked together on 38 points, knowing that anything less than a whitewash could potentially allow their rivals to steal the title.

Bletchingdon Sports, at home to The Tandem, got off to the perfect start, setting 17 and comfortably winning the opening leg 17-10. At the same time, Red Lion Cassington, at home to White Hart, also took the first leg, winning 14-9.
Bletchingdon were determined not to let their advantage slip in the second leg and produced an impressive score of 23, leaving Tandem with far too much to do as they could only reply with 9. The Sports had now taken a commanding position and were just one leg away from putting the pressure firmly back on the Lion. Meanwhile, White Hart set Red Lion just 13 in the second leg. The Lion appeared to be cruising towards victory, reaching 13 with three players still to throw. But then disaster struck as a blob suddenly put the pressure on the final two players.

With everything now resting on their shoulders, the last two Lion players held their nerve, both knocking off one doll apiece to finish on 15, securing the second leg and keeping their title hopes alive.
It was now all down to the final leg.

Bletchingdon once again set the target and went on to win their decisive third leg 16-7, meaning the pressure was firmly back on Red Lion. The Lion knew they had to chase down a set of just 8 dolls to keep their hopes of the title alive.
They didn't falter. Red Lion responded with 11, securing the third leg, completing their own 3-0 victory and, crucially, earning the maximum points needed to keep them level with Bletchingdon.
So, after a full season of competition, neither side could be separated — and Section 4 will now be decided by a play-off next week.

Rose Hill ‘A’ could only sit and wait for a slip-up from the two leaders, but they did everything they could on the final night, equalling their best score of the season with a convincing 3-0 whitewash at home to Vikings Sports ‘C’.
Rose Hill took the first leg 19-11, followed it with 16-12 in the second and completed the whitewash with a 17-15 victory in the final leg. Unfortunately for Rose Hill, the leaders refused to slip up, meaning their excellent finish was not enough to force their way into the title race.

Corner House finished the season without a point after suffering their 18th consecutive 3-0 defeat, this time at home to Rose Hill Club ‘B’. It was a comfortable evening for the visitors, who won all three legs 14-5, 12-7 and 12-6.
But hats off to Corner House. Despite not managing to get a point on the board all season, they turned up every week and continued to play the game in the hope that they might finally grab that elusive point.
That commitment deserves plenty of credit.

Making their league debut, Gardiners Arms finished their first season with a 3-0 home defeat against Kidlington Sports Club, who produced their best score of the season.
Kidlington took the opening leg 17-11, followed it with an emphatic 20-4 victory in the second and completed the whitewash by winning the third 11-7. Despite the defeat, it has been an encouraging debut season for Gardiners Arms, who managed to record three wins during their first campaign.
Now all eyes turn to next week, when Red Lion Cassington and Bletchingdon Sports finally settle their Section 4 title race in the play-off.

Mark Finch from Red Lion Cassington was crowned top doll scorer with 148 dolls.

LEGION SIGN OFF CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON IN STYLE
Premier champions Littlemore British Legion ‘A’ signed off their championship-winning season in style with a thrilling high-scoring 3-0 victory away at Section One champions The Blackbird. Who were carrying a two-doll start handicap, set 21 in the opening leg, but the Legion showed their class as they hit 25 to take an early lead.
The champions then turned up the heat in the second. With only three players having thrown, Legion already had 16 dolls on the board before going on to post a formidable 30. Blackbird refused to give up and produced an excellent 27 in reply, leaving anchor man Tom Finney needing all six to tie the leg. Finney could only manage three, leaving Blackbird three short and Legion one leg away from a whitewash.

Blackbird set 25 in the final leg, hoping to finish their own campaign without suffering a 3-0 defeat. But the champions had other ideas. Once again Legion piled on the dolls, reaching 14 after just three players before eventually finishing on another 30, taking the leg, the match and maximum points with an impressive 85 dolls.
Leading the charge was Andy Beal, who produced an outstanding 16 dolls (5-6-5). Kevin Baker was also in top form with 14 (4-5-5), while Mark Bayliss bagged a maximum six on his way to 13 (2-5-6).
For Blackbird, Doug Mingham ended the season in style with 14 dolls (5-5-4).

Last season's champions White House had to settle for runners-up this time around, but ended their campaign with a comfortable 3-0 whitewash at home to Black Horse ‘A’. White House took the first two legs 18-16 and 23-19, before producing their biggest score of the night in the final leg. Chasing a target of 19, White House raised their game and smashed 29 dolls to complete the whitewash.
Roger Goodall finished with 11 dolls and once again topped the Premier Section scoring charts, claiming the accolade for the fourth time with an outstanding 220 dolls over the league season and most sixes with 6 in total.

Jolly Sportsman ended the season on a high with a third consecutive victory, defeating Black Horse ‘B’ away from home.
The hosts set all three legs, but Sportsman chased down an opening target of 18 with 21 to take the lead.
Black Horse hit back in the second, setting 22 and holding Sportsman to just 15, seven short of the target.
With the deciding leg set at 19, however, Sportsman were not going to make the same mistake twice. They responded with a formidable 29 to take the leg and the match.

Mark Washington was in sensational form for New Club ‘A’, hitting a maximum six on his way to an excellent 15 dolls (6-5-4) in their 2-1 victory away at The Ampleforth Arms ‘A’, who carried a three-doll handicap.
New Club took the opening leg 27-18, but Ampleforth responded strongly in the second, setting an impressive 31 and winning it 31-20. The deciding leg went to New Club, who set and won it 28-23 to finish their campaign with a victory.
Colin Richardson top-scored for Ampleforth with 13 (4-5-4), while Dave Simms added 12 (2-5-5). Roger Alder had a night of extremes, finishing on eight after hitting a maximum six sandwiched between two scores of one.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for New Club. After narrowly missing out on the Premier title last season, they have endured a torrid campaign this time around, finishing bottom of the table.

Masons Arms ‘A’ finished equal second in Section One despite suffering a 3-0 home defeat to North Leigh FC.
North Leigh took all three legs 22-17, 16-15 and 24-12, with Charlie Buckingham leading their scoring with 12 dolls (4-5-3). Masons' Chris Webb, however, can look back on an outstanding individual campaign. Despite missing one game, he finished with 200 dolls, enough to claim the top doll scorer award in Section One.

And with the final dolls of the league season now knocked off, another action-packed campaign comes to an end — with the champions having certainly saved one of their best performances for last.


SIX BELLS SIGN OFF CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON IN STYLE
Section 2 champions Six Bells ‘C’ signed off their remarkable campaign in style with a convincing 3-0 home victory over Garsington Sports Club. It has been an outstanding season for the Bells, who lost just one game all campaign, and they finished with another whitewash, winning the three legs 16-13, 16-14 and 19-13.
Garsington, relegated from Section One last season, unfortunately find themselves propping up the table again after another difficult campaign. The visitors had a great opportunity to take something from the second leg when they needed just three dolls to win. However, their anchor-man blobbed out, following two of his teammates who had also failed to knock off a doll earlier in the leg. It was a costly collapse and allowed the Bells to take the leg.
Dean Plumstead led the Six Bells scoring with an excellent 11 dolls (5-4-2).

Donnington Club ‘C’ had to settle for the runners-up spot, despite ending their campaign with a 2-1 defeat against their own B team. The result completed a disappointing end to the season for the C team, who suffered their fourth defeat in their last five games, a run which ultimately cost them any chance of catching the champions. The B team edged a desperately close opening leg 13-12, before the C team fought back to level the match with a 13-11 victory.
It all came down to the final leg, and it was the B team who held their nerve to win 17-15 and claim the bragging rights.

Richard Wright produced an impressive dozen dolls (4-5-3) for Queen’s Head ‘A’, but his efforts were ultimately in vain as they went down 2-1 away at New Club ‘B’. Queen’s set 18 in the opening leg, but New Club produced some steady throwing to chase it down and finish on 21. Standards dropped dramatically in the second leg when New Club could only set 11. Queen’s appeared to be in trouble themselves, sitting on just seven dolls with two players still to throw.
Then Wright stepped up and produced the goods, clanging off five, before the anchor-man added three to take Queen’s through on 15 and level the match.
New Club regained their composure in the decider, setting 19, which proved too strong as Queen’s could only reply with 15.

One-time title contenders Donnington Club ‘A’ finished their season with a 2-1 home defeat to Catherine Wheel ‘B’.
Donnington were left with too much to do after losing the opening two legs 18-14 and 20-11.
They did manage to restore some pride in the final leg, winning it 21-14, but the damage had already been done and Catherine Wheel took the match.

There was a superb individual achievement for Jack Lane of Six Bells, who finished as the top doll scorer in Section 2 with an outstanding 148 dolls from just 13 games.
With five games missed, Lane can only wonder what might have been. Had he played all 18 matches, a place in the exclusive 200-doll club would surely have been within his sights.
For Six Bells ‘C’, though, it has been a season to remember — champions, just one defeat and a final-night whitewash providing the perfect finish to a remarkable campaign.

WORKERS ROUND OFF CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON WITH 16TH VICTORY
Cowley Workers rounded off their championship-winning Section 3 campaign in style, recording their 16th victory of the season with a 2-1 home win over Catherine Wheel ‘C’. The champions wasted little time in putting the result beyond doubt, taking the opening two legs 19-15 and 16-13 to secure another victory. Catherine Wheel did manage to spoil the whitewash, though, coming back strongly in the final leg to win 15-13.

While the title had already been secured, the battle for the runners-up positions went right down to the final night.
Littlemore Rugby Club secured a share of second place after enjoying a comfortable 3-0 victory away at newly promoted Headington Con Club. Rugby took control from the start, winning 15-10, 17-11 and 15-10. It proved a difficult return to Section 3 for Headington, who finished at the bottom of the table with relegation now looming.

Ampleforth ‘B’ also finished level in the runners-up position after a convincing 3-0 whitewash at Queen’s Head ‘B’. They won all three legs 13-11, 16-11 and 14-10 to finish their campaign strongly.

There was some late-season cheer for Masons Arms ‘B’, who ended a run of five consecutive defeats with an excellent 3-0 away victory at Red Lion Yarnton. Mav Darch led the Masons scoring with 10 dolls (3-3-4) as they took all three legs 13-11, 17-9 and 14-10. Red Lion's Ricky Smith also finished with 10 (3-2-5), but it was the visitors who claimed maximum points.

In the individual scoring race, Josh Breakspear led from start to finish and was rewarded with the top doll scorer title after finishing on an impressive 168 dolls.

The race for the top lady scorer provided one of the closest finishes of the season. Juliette Kemish of The Blackbird went into the final games holding a seven-doll advantage over Littlemore Rugby's Nikki Rudman.
However, Kemish suffered a nightmare final night, managing just two dolls to finish on 77. Rudman had the opportunity to steal the award but needed 10 and could only manage seven, leaving her on 75.
Kemish therefore held on by just two dolls to claim the honour.

With another exciting season packed with twists and turns now complete, attention turns to the final event of the campaign.
Finals Night takes place on Friday, October 23rd at Cowley Workers Club, where the remaining honours will be decided and the league's best players will battle it out for silverware.

SIXERS
A.Beal & M. Bayliss (Littlemore B.L.)
R.Alder (Ampleforth Arms 'A')
M.Washington (New Club 'A')

BLOBBERS
M.Griffin, C.Beattie, D.Ward (Corner House) J.McMahon (Catherine Wheel ‘C’) P.Bowers (Red Lion Yarnton)
L.Barrett (Rose Hill ‘A’) C.Grisbrooke, D.Beer (Gardener Arms)

TOP SCORES
16: A.Beal (Littlemore Legion)
15: M.Washington (New Club)
14: K.Baker (Littlemore Legion) D. Mingham (The Blackbird)
13: M.Bayliss (Littlemore Legion) C.Rihardson (Ampleforth ‘A’)

TOP LEG SCORE
Littlemore British Legion 30 Dolls & 85 dolls overall.

REMINDER
All trophies/cups to be returned ASAP.
All winning section teams will receive 10 trophies, if you require anymore please let us know with payment of £15 per extra trophy.

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