Bye lets Halkirk ‘1’ move clear at the top
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
WITH Halkirk “2” having a bye this week, Halkirk “1” had the perfect opportunity to move two points clear at the top of the Thurso and District Pool League.
They travelled to the Comm who were playing in their first match of the season. Halkirk “1” opened well with Michael MacGregor taking the first singles but the Comm immediately fought back with Chris Sutherland levelling the match.
Unfortunately for the Comm, this was to be their one and only success on the night as Halkirk “1” registered an emphatic 8-1 victory, with Stevie Elder, Chris Bacon, Gary Oag and Keith Foubister winning the final four singles to put Halkirk “1” 5-1 up. They then proceeded to sweep the doubles.
Fresh from their excellent home win over the Weigh Inn last week, Holborn visited Skinandi’s who were coming off the back of two heavy defeats to last year’s top two sides.
In the early going Skinandi’s looked far from a side lacking in confidence as they raced out to a 3-0 lead courtesy of wins for Ian Disbury, Andrew Cuthbert and Rian MacGregor.
Shaun Trueman then injected some urgency into the Holborn fightback with a granny over Ali Glen. The Holborn followed this up by taking the final two singles to level the match at 3-3, and continued to prosper by moving ahead 4-3 with victory in the first doubles.
With Skinandi’s looking to level the match at 4-4, disaster struck. James Moodie potted the black but unfortunately lost the white in the process to give Holborn a great come-from-behind victory.
Skinandi’s clinched the final doubles to leave the final score 5-4 in favour of the Holborn in this battle of the new boys.
Week three also saw the first Weigh Inn derby of the season. This was a tight affair in the early stages with Weigh Inn jumping out to a 2-0 lead with wins for David McGillivray and Mark Alexander, only for Ashes Bar to level the match thanks to Graham Young and Colin MacIver.
However, the Weigh Inn won the all-important last two singles through Alan Robertson and Stevie Wylie to take a 4-2 lead heading into the doubles. The first doubles game was also close with Stevie Wylie holding his nerve to clinch bragging rights for the Weigh Inn in the first derby of the season. The final two doubles were shared to leave a final score of 6-3 to the Weigh Inn.
Unfortunately for Popeye’s they were once again left idle as Top Joe’s had to call off their match.
Results: Comm 1, Halkirk “1” 8, Skinandi’s 4, Holborn 5; Weigh Inn 6, Ashes Bar 3; Popeye’s v Top Joe’s P.
Week four action sees the chasing pack given the opportunity to close on Halkirk “1” as they have the bye week.
The top match sees Halkirk “2” entertain the Weigh Inn, Comm visit Top Joe’s, Holborn host Popeye’s and Skinandi’s travel to face Ashes Bar.
