The Budleigh Evening League, sponsored by High Street Solicitors, Gilbert H Stephens, produced yet another close and enjoyable fixture when the Falcons entertained the Madeira Blues.

There was a terrific encounter between Brian Crook’s Falcons and Bob Burch’s Blues that ended in victory for the latter by a margin of just two shots – 18 to 16!

On the second rink, a roller-coaster of a match yielded several big counts before Terry Kelly’s trio won 25-17, resulting in overall victory and four valuable points for the Falcons.

The Madeira Reds appear to have the league championship sewn up, with the Blues, the Buzzards and the Falcons all in contention for the minor placings

Budleigh’s travelling squad in the Sidmouth Evening League, failed narrowly in an attempt to build on their success of last week.

They led from the start until the 20th end when their opponents, the Sidmouth Centurions, mounted a late fight back to win 22-18.

Budleigh lost a mixed friendly, also at Sidmouth, by just five shots.

The hosts won on one rink by 25 shots to 19 and David Evans’ quartet drew at 21-all.

Brian Evans, skipping Don Huish, Margaret Avery and Richard Cooper saw an 11-3 lead whittled away, but held on to win 21-20.

The early rounds in the internal championships are well underway and winners of some games can be announced next week.

This year’s Finals Day will be held on Saturday, March 19.

The three disciplines this season are for two and four woods and a ‘106’ competition which replaces the ‘pairs’ competition.

For those unfamiliar with this format, the nearest wood wins six points and second and third woods earn four points and one point.

The winner is the first to amass 106 points. This format provides an interesting variation to the usual scoring method.