With quite possibly the result of the season so far, last Thursday evening, the Gardener’s Arms (North Parade) outlasted the Section One pacesetters and bookies’ favourites, the Green Road Club (Kidlington), to post a narrow victory, 68-65.

With success over the White Hart (Eynsham) seven days earlier, the Gardener’s will be hoping to make it three in a row when they travel to Eynsham for the reverse tie next week.

After a rather indifferent winter campaign, when they recorded seven wins from 16 starts, skipper Maureen and her charges are gradually reaping the benefits of having a more settled line-up.

Almost as momentous a result as the above occurred at the White Hart, where the home side were edged out in a low-scoring thriller by visitors, Far From The Madding Crowd ‘B’ (Oxford City), 55-53. This, added to their opening day triumph over the Black Swan (East Oxford), means the ‘Young ‘Uns’ have already matched the number of victories they notched up during the entire winter season, their inaugural foray into Quizland. Theirs is a small but dedicated squad, and it may lack the experience of a wise old head, but they will improve considerably with time and reporting results such as this will cease to be labelled a surprise.

Over in Wolvercote, in the clash of the Premiership titans, the Ploughman’s Bunch! exacted revenge for a heavy defeat earlier in the season at the hands of their stablemate, the Plough, by overpowering their great rivals, 81-72, in the highest scoring encounter of the night. Curiously, they were aided considerably by their abundant knowledge of fish and duly mopped up in the specialist round.

Fellow title challengers, Far From The Madding Crowd ‘A’, were equally impressive in racking up 82 points to persevere over a spirited North Oxford Conservative Club (Summertown) team by a margin of 16.

By half-time, FFTMC ‘A’ had failed to answer only one of their own questions and, but for mistaking Betty Grable for Greer Garson (an easy mistake!), would have claimed a full house in the picture round. At the mid-point of the season, thanks to their heavier scoring, FFTMC’A’ go top in their division.

Section One also boasts new leaders. That setback for the Green Road Club has relegated the Kidlington outfit to second spot. Replacing them in pole position is the Royal Sun (Begbroke), their latest success coming at the expense of the luckless Black’s Head (Bletchingdon), 66-64.

In the one remaining fixture of the night, the Black Swan bounced back from the reverse suffered at the hands of the Con Club the previous week to land the spoils against the Seacourt Bridge (Botley), 69-59.

There is a break in league action this Thursday as all the contenders line up for the ‘Europe’ themed tabletop at the Con Club, but hostilities will be resumed in a fortnight when possibly star billing goes to the match up between the Plough and FFTMC ‘A’.