IN a season stretching back to last October, the destination of the winner’s trophy in three of the five divisions will only be settled this Thursday – the final day of the campaign.
Possibly providing the most dramatic finale will be the encounter between Premiership contenders, and Wolvercote stablemates, the Plough and the Ploughman’s Bunch!. This ‘shoot-out’ was set up after the Bunch! overpowered hosts, and long-time front-runners and defending champions Far From The Madding Crowd ‘A’ (Oxford City), 83-64, and the Plough, in somewhat more sober surroundings, even more comprehensively, despatched the Bell (Grove), 86-64.
The White Hart (Eynsham) are certainly making heavy weather of retaining the championship in the West. The latest setback was suffered at the hands of the Windrush Club (Witney), 61-77, and it is the latter that can now snatch the crown should they overcome the Woodman (North Leigh), and the leaders falter against the Black’s Head (Bletchingdon), who bounced back to form with an impressive 71-66 win over Royal Sun (Begbroke).
In the Oxford section, pacesetters, the North Oxford Conservative Club, extinguished the title dreams of the Seacourt Bridge (Botley), after grinding out a 75-67 success. Victory over Far From The Madding Crowd ‘B’ in the concluding fixture and the trophy is headed to Summertown, but any slip up and the Green Road Club could yet prevail, as the Kidlington side squeezed past the Gardener’s Arms (North Parade), 70-65.
Elsewhere, champions-elect in the East, the Green Dragon (Haddenham), confirmed their superiority with a 75-50 demolition of the Chandos Arms (Oakley) while the Gatehanger’s Inn (Ashendon) went down, 59-50 at the Eight Bells (Long Crendon).
In the North, the Blue Boar (Chipping Norton) beat the Woodman 73-61, while the Crown (Church Enstone) stayed second after edging a thriller with the Sun (Hook Norton), 61-59. The Bell (Lower Heyford) confirmed third spot after trouncing the Chequers (also of ‘Chippy’), 71-52.
Finally, the Irish-skippered Black Swan (East Oxford) dismantled Far From The Madding Crowd ‘B’ 76-39. The Summer League commences in mid-May and if you are interested in entering a team or finding one to join, email quinnd @hotmail.co.uk
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