Taylor Support Shropshire Premier Bowls League
Top two face tough trips, Bottom four face off
The top two of the Salop Leisure Shropshire Premier Bowling League face tough away trips in Gameweek 18. Leaders Castlefields travel to a Burway side who have not lost at home, and results have included a 14-0 whitewash over the champions earlier in the season. Castlefields have a decent record there though, getting 5 there last season. The Bayley are now 7 points behind the Fields and have a tougher trip to Hanwood, the best home team of 2016. Captain Tom Roden says “we don’t particularly look forward to Hanwood away with little experience on the green and it’s reputation as a brilliant home green. But we know we need positive results if we’re going to keep up with Castlefields. So we just need to get our heads down and nick as many as we can.” The one thing that may help the Bayley improve on their 3 from last season would be the weather forecast. Hanwood joint captain Mark Shore will hope the weather doesn’t interfere to much with the green and would love a repeat of that score from last season.
It’s crunch time at the bottom with all four teams playing each other. Bottom placed Ifton face a Bylet team that have a good record on their green, but only did get 3 there last season. Ifton have picked up with two good home wins over Chester Road and Castlefields and know they have to keep doing that to move away from bottom spot. The two teams above these two face each other at Hanmer, with Wem USC the visitors. Home captain Dave Ellison knows “what a week for fixtures with the bottom 4 playing each other. We are against our local rivals in Wem who have done well the last 2 seasons on our green but tomorrow will be different because the green will be running and hopefully that will play into our hands. We must make home advantage count. Wem are going through a difficult period themselves and will fancy to get a result so it promises to be a great match.” Wem captain Graham Dulson thinks it is a “difficult game to predict, but we have done well against Hanmer in the Whitchurch League this season home and away. Obviously the team will have some different players but we will be confident and enjoy the game against a good bunch of lads.”
Chester Road are just above them but face a trip to St Georges who are reeling from their home defeat on Friday against Newport. Chester Road owe the Dragons one after winning on their green the last two years and winning 11-3 in this fixture last season and will hope to take advantage of a different top green this season. St Georges themselves will be wanting to make sure of a top five finish themselves in a difficult season for them. Newport are just ahead of Meole Brace in 3rd and will hope to move ahead with a home game against Wrockwardine Wood. Newport though have struggled at home this season, losing their last home game against the Bayley, and know they need to improve this to keep at the top end and back up their away form. Wrockwardine have been inconsistent themselves just getting past Hanwood last week at home but showed winning at Ifton they can produce an excellent away result. Meole Brace face a tough trip to Bowring but did draw there last season. Meole have been struggling recently but got a good home win last week but know they need to be back on the ball to keep hopes alive of a top 3 finish. Bowring have bounced back from their own dodgy win with an away win on Bylet last season and apart from one slip against Burway have shown good home form. They know a strong end to the finish could see their first ever top 6 finish.
Gameweek 18 Fixtures:
Hanwood v SJB
Burway v Castlefields
Ifton v Bylet
Hanmer v Wem USC
St Georges v Chester Road
Newport v Wrockwardine Wood
Bowring v Meole Brace