Victory march grinds to halt after first defeat

Although only four shots separated the sides (85-81), Havant collected seven of the eight points thanks mainly to the reliability of their home rinks.

Alan Sprake defeated Keith Gerrard 28-14 and Barry Harman recorded five shots in the last three ends to outgun Tony Grant 23-19.

Palmerston, without captain and regular skip Neil O'Donovan, who had work commitments, responded on their own carpet through Roy Reader (27-12 against Glyn Jones).

But Havant snatched the other contest at Fareham, where Derek Turner pipped league newcomer Chris Hay 22-21 after the Palmer-ston rink had fought back from 15-6 down.

Havant stay third but are now only three points behind leaders Victory after the Portsmouth club suffered their first defeat of the campaign 5-3 (77-72) against rejuvenated Atherley.

Despite losing three rinks, Atherley clinched an overall win through the 26-7 triumph by David Bishop, Allan Arnaud, Norman Shelley and Peter Line at Portsmouth.

Longmeadow celebrated their first win of the Division 2 campaign, helped by a fine comeback from Len Curry.

The skip himself has returned from a spell at Riverside and, after being 15-12 down at 15 ends, gathered eight shots from the next three ends on his way to a vital 22-17 success against Bill Plumpton.

The victory did not lift Long-meadow out of bottom spot but it helped leaders Rushmoor - convincing winners against New Milton - to stretch the margin at the top over second-placed Chawton Park.

Riverside maintained their promotion push in a high-scoring affair that brought them six points in a game of nearly 200 shots against Loddon Vale.

Peter Cox and George Doig scored runaway home wins for the Winchester men, but Vale took both contests on their carpet albeit by narrower margins.

Doug Morgan captured three shots over the final two ends to beat Simon Doig 27-24, and Trevor Morgan outgunned Roger Parsons who was stuck for seven ends on four in his 27-13 eclipse.