Well, for the Black’s Head (Bletchingdon) the bubble has finally burst. Having won all of their five previous fixtures in the summer campaign, their successful run was brought to a shuddering halt last Thursday night when they entertained the Ploughman’s Bunch! (Wolvercote).

For the latter, the reigning Premiership champions, their title defence had begun rather unimpressively with three defeats already, but any thoughts of an upset here were duly quashed as they won this contest quite emphatically, 71-54. The Black’s Head had begun proceedings quite brightly and opened up a slight advantage early doors. However, a disastrous picture round left them six points adrift at half-time, a deficit which only widened as the evening progressed.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. They retained pole position in Section One as their nearest challenger, The Royal Sun (Begbroke), succumbed, as most do, to The Plough (also Wolvercote), 82-56.

Victory for The Plough means they maintained the one remaining unbeaten record of the season and they lead the Premier Division by four points from the Royal Blenheim ‘A’ (Oxford City) with the Bunch! slightly further adrift in third, or less kindly put, last!

Having lost narrowly in the first game they played at their new venue, the Royal Blenheim ‘A’ rewarded their new landlords by overwhelming the Green Road Club (Kidlington), 85-59.

If you’re going to beat one of the big boys, at least back it up in your next outing especially if facing one of your divisional rivals. This is exactly what the Seacourt Bridge (Botley) did. Having sunk the Bunch! seven days earlier, they duly put the Royal Blenheim ‘B’ (aka ‘The Young ’Uns’), one of whom I noticed popped up in that splendid BBC documentary on University Challenge a few nights previous, to the sword, 61-41.

Rather surprisingly, the White Hart (Eynsham) have yet to register a win. Runners-up in the west in the winter, they are now languishing next to bottom in Section One. Their latest setback was inflicted by the in-form Gardener’s Arms (North Parade), and it was a bit of a drubbing really, 69-39.

In the one other tie, the North Oxford Conservative Club (Summertown) made their annual pilgrimage to East Oxford to take on the largely Irish contingent that is the Black Swan. Cap’n Conway was in a playful mood, which may have had its roots in the ‘Bud’ bottles occupying his bit of the table, but this changed as his team squandered their early lead to eventually perish, 58-63.

This week there is a break from league action with the majority convening at the Con Club for the British and Irish Sport-themed tabletop.