As Round 1 of the newly inaugurated Box League draws to a close (Deadline for posting results NOW 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday, 30th October), several close contests have been reported.

The inaugural CHAMPION of the top Murray Division 1 is, fittingly,  none other than our men's Captain, DAVE FORSTER, so CONGRATULATIONS to him –  can he repeat the feat in Round 2?

Murray Division 1 Although none of the sets were close, the final placings were: Dave (on 15 games) beat the game score of Tristan Gretton (14)  by one and the total achieved by third placed Clive Slater (13) by two, leaving Peter Wood in relegation spot.

In Nadal Division 2, the promotion spot was snatched by Nick Cox on 14 points, but only after a tie-break play off against Richard Bagshaw. Matt Charlton missed out on a 3 way tie-break by a single game, leaving Chris Hawkins to drop into

Cilic Division 3 which has still to be played.

Thiem Division 4 was also decided by a tie-break, won by Ian Randon and Alan Brown. At 6-6 in the 3rd set, both promotion and relegation hung the balance, but the eventual defeat of Rob Slack and Gray Hetherington decided that Rob would play Ian for top spot and Alan escaped a tie break decider for the relegation place. A long tussle this one – despite a 7:00 start, the 9:30 curfew fell as Rob and Ian approached the net to shake hands! Promotion from

Goffin Division 6 has yet to be decided, but the winner of

Raonic Division 7, by a single point from Paul Taylor, was Mike Drinkwater, thanks to a 6-1 win with Paul in the final set against Ken Ikin and Will Pole.

Edmund Division 8 featured yet another shoot out for the promotion place, Chris Brady overcoming Alistair Culwick, each of whom scored a “perfect” 18 game score. Since Stephen Forrest was only one game adrift in the final table, this was a high scoring tussle. Mike Briggs faces the drop, despite registering 13 games – a score which meant survival in divisions 1, 2 and 5.