<p>Skittle Talk by KINGPIN – 1st December 2017 Two of the teams at the bottom of the first division in the Weyline Taxis sponsored Weymouth & Portland Skittle League took points in their struggle to stay in the top tier. At Wyke WM Club 69ers holding up the rest of the teams received Barmy Army who are comfortably place in mid-table. 69ers had opened up an 11 pin lead after four hands but with the Army starting and finishing the fifth hand with stickups to total 62 they lost five of those pins to lead by just six pins. They did recover on the sixth when they won the hand to lead by 13 going into the last hand and emerged winners by 14 pins. At the Admiral Hardy Shamrocks, also at the foot of the table, visited to play Hardys Admirals, a team that are challenging for the championship. The first four hands swung to either side but after the fifth hand the visitors had established an eight pin lead. Although Admirals pulled back five pins after the sixth hand Shamrocks ran out winners by 10. The closest match in this division was at Portland British Legion where Wyke Social Club, just one point off the bottom, played PBLC’C’. The visitors started the match with a hand of 51 and helped by a 15-pin stickup from Ryan Stone in the C team’s reply the home team took an eight pin lead. Social Club put in a much steadier second hand and totalled 61. The reply reached 58 and the lead was cut to five pins. Social Club kept up the pressure and with a good team effort on the third hand they cut the lead to just two pins. The visitors lost a single pin after the fourth hand but with stickups from Stu Reed (9) and Will Mitchell (15) in their fifth hand they totalled 61. The home team replied with 57 and suddenly the visitors had the lead, be by only one pin. The sixth hand was tied so it was all on the last. Social Club hit 54 to set the target at 56. The top half scored 29 but with the next two players taking just six pins each the pressure on the last two players grew. Ryan Stone played well fro and eight and when Micky Moore took just six with his three balls the match was drawn! The bottom of the table still shows 69ers at the base but there are now three teams just one point ahead of them. There is a similar struggle at the bottom of the third division and the crunch came when the bottom team Speedway Stars received the team just one point above them at the bottom, Globetrotters, at Weymouth WM Club. Stars took the first hand by four pins but then the visitors took charge and after the fifth hand they led by 21 pins. Stars fight back started too late and although they won the last two hands they lost the game by 10 pins.</p>