After what was a largely successful first half of the season for Carlton, they began the second half with a couple of handsome wins and only a thunderstorm preventing a third from being possible.

Despite being short of a man and lady, the third team prevailed 10-6 away at a struggling Southbank 3 side that remain looking over their shoulder at the bottom two. A couple of strong wins by members Dave Porter, Jenny Benge, Shane Hutton and Kelly Cooper as well as a first ever win for Patrick Fitzsimons with playing partner Jacqui Metcalfe secured the teams fifth win of the season and a return to third in the table.

Earlier in the week, a thunderstorm disrupted both the first and second's teams encounters. While the former managed to get a result on the night, the latter were forced to rearrange to a date later on in the week.

This proved beneficial for the second team as they battled to a 10-6 home win over Aughton 2. That result keeps them firmly away from any relegation trouble for now and remain in the chasing pack for promotion.

For the first team, nature got in the way of their 4-4 draw away at Waterloo. With the reverse fixture seeing both sides collect a point, the same happened in this match that forever stayed deadlocked. After completed the mixed doubles and being a few games into their men's and ladies doubles encounters, the lightning struck, the thunder rumbled and the rain poured. With the forecast looking to remain unaltered for the remainder of the evening, both teams agreed to end the match there and then.

That result may have moved them down to third place. But one point off the leaders keeps them in a heathly spot with six matches remaining.

Next week sees the second team face the always tricky trip to Town Green. Meanwhile, the first team are having their first home match in almost a month as they play hosts to Hightown 1. Tuesday is almost the third team as they are home to Sphynx 4 in a match that could give them their last opportunity of a being in the fight for promotion.

Thank you to everyone who competed for the club this past week.