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It was second placed beating third when the Toffees proved too strong for the Bonfires winning the tie 52-44. As in their previous meeting the top tier players for the Bonfires were able to contain the Toffees power with Louise McGann again to the fore contributing 17 games from her two matches. Over the four level 1 and 2 matches played on Monday night the Bonfires outscored their opponents on the night 27-21 with Danny Redmond and Louise fighting hard to hold off Paul Lendrum and substitute Heather Guy in the mixed doubles while in the ladies doubles it was with partner Leonie Madigan that Louise posting an impressive 10-2 victory over Heather and Ann Elliot. However it was in the 3's and 4's that the Toffees were able to make their strength in depth tell and pull through to win the tie. The combinations of James Wilson, Matt Dillon ,Mary Griffin and Vivienne Kells across the doubles and mixed doubles has been too strong for all comers so far this season and Monday night was no exception Winning all four matches by a combined 31-17 these ultra competitive pairings, may if their form continues, bring the Toffees through the pool stages. However they face their toughest test yet in next Monday's shootout with table topping Pumpkins.
It was these same Pumpkins, playing earlier in the opening tie on Monday night, who were looking to stretch their lead with a win against the Conkers who themselves were looking for that elusive first win in the league. Having recorded a 63-33 win when these teams met earlier in the season the Pumpkins hoped for more of the same and with Jenny Humphries and sub Davy Thompson opening proceedings with a 8-4 win over Dominic Burns and Liz Murphy and Clive Funston and Josie Boyle thumping Marshall Coalter and Veronica Bogue 9-3 things were going according to plan. After the remaining two mixed doubles were shared the Pumpkins led by 10 games at the halfway stage. When Dominic and Marshall dug in for a 7-5 victory in the opening men's doubles the Conkers comeback hopes were raised but these were immediately extinguished when Jenny and Josie, the Pumpkins two outstanding players on the night, won their ladies doubles match 9-3. An emphatic 9-3 win for Kieran Hannan and stand-in Martin Hamblin was not enough to turn things around for the Conkers who ultimately lost the tie 54-42 after Anne Smyth and Vanessa McBrien won the last match 8-4 against Kathleen Murphy and Carol Livingstone. While this represented an improvement for the Conkers from these sides first meeting it was still a disappointing result and leaves only them only three more rounds to avoid a wooden spoon season.
Opening proceedings on Wednesday night were runaway group leaders the Firecrackers who were hoping to repeat their early season 61-35 victory over their nearest rivals Sparklers In that previous encounter the level 1 and 2 matches were all close with the Firecrackers relying on their lower tier players to pull them through comfortably. However in a complete reversal of that form it was the Sparklers top order of Matthew McGann and Sergiy Gluskckenco who stormed through their men's doubles match 11-1 creating a platform for a possible shock win for the Sparklers. Even though the mixed doubles matches were all evenly contested it was a battling 8-4 win for Hugh Maguire and Andrea Crawford over Sergiy and Brenda Davis which enabled the Firecrackers to lead going into the men's and ladies doubles. It was then that Matthew and Sergiy struck and with the next two matches ending in 6-6 ties a repeat of their 10-2 win, when these teams previously met, for Firecrackers captain Maxine Leary and Mary Davidson over Lisa Greaves and Anne Mooney would be enough for the Firecrackers to hold out. However Lisa and Anne had other ideas and in a tense battle they managed to win 5 of the 12 games which though a defeat in the match was still enough to carry the Sparklers through for an important 51-45 victory in the tie.
This now left only the match between the Rockets and the Bangers to round off week 6 of the League. Having just seen the Sparklers defeat the Firecrackers the Rockets knew that this was a must win game to stay in contention for the second qualifying place. However the Bangers were not going to go quietly and helped greatly by their top pairing of Davy Thompson and Bernie Hall, who saw off the Firecrackers Steven Miller and Josie Gillen 7-5 in a great contest, the Bangers managed to reach the halfway stage tied at 24-24. Again, Davy came to the fore with his men's doubles partner Sean Bogue, beating Steven and Cyril Boyd by the minimum 7-5 giving the Bangers hope of a first win this season but it was the crunch ladies doubles match between Josie Gillen and Enid Redmond for the Rockets and Bernie Hall and Ruth Armstrong for the Bangers which swung the tie in favour of the Rockets. Playing splendid tennis all season Enid has not always had the results her play deserved but this time herself and Josie managed a crucial 8-4 win for the Rockets putting them back in the lead. Once Bridie McCaffrey and sub Catherine Sloan had held off a determined effort from the Bangers Sheila Colville and Ruth Elliott to secure a 6-6 draw it was down to the steady pairing of Reggie Ferguson and Johnny Guette to close out the match for the Rockets, doing so in style, beating Keith Miller and Frank Britton 9-3 . An overall 52-44 victory has left the Rockets only 7 games behind the Sparklers nicely setting up next weeks clash as a probable decider for the second qualifying place in the group. Having provided the match of the season in their last meeting, which ended in a draw, expectations of another Wednesday night thriller are high.
Standings after week 6 with the top two to qualify from each group are:
Monday Nights: Pumpkins 280 games, Toffees 270, Bonfires 243, Conkers 203 (all 5 matches played) and Wizards 156 (4 matches played)
Wednesday Night: Firecrackers 327 games, Sparklers 295, Rockets 288, Bangers 242 (All 6 matches played)