IT was a close-fought contest in the Braintree Open Darts League between Cressing A and the Retreat and there was nothing to split the two in the overall match score.

Cressing took an early advantage with a 2-1 win in the pairs, before a draw in the triples, but Andy Camp and Ryan Smith edged the Retreat ahead with 2-0 wins in the opening singles.

Cressing's Tony Bamsey, Andy Holland and John Abbott all won their games, but wins for Vinnie Clarke and Steve O'Neil gave the singles points to the Retreat.

Eagle A opened up a early lead in their match against visiting Cressing B with a 3-0 win in the pairs, a win in the triples and a 2-1 singles win for Matt Last.

Paul Baker pulled one back for Cressing but that was their only victory of the night with the Eagle winning all the remaining games.

Swiss Bell claimed the pairs 2-1 at Wethersfield Club, who then took the triples for a slight advantage going into the singles.

Wins for Jan Pearce and Jackie Brighton in the opening singles put the Swiss ahead before Billy Knight-Wood brought the match back all square.

Wethersfield's Steve Sheldrake and Kevin Taylor won their games, but Bex Farmer and Russ Farmer were victorious to leave the Swiss as singles winners and the overall match as a draw.

Legends won 2-1 in the pairs, drew the triples and had Tony Tatum taking the opening singles to seize the advantage against Wethersfield Raiders.

Brian Thomas and Brendan Hand claimed the next two for the Raiders, but Legends won all the remaining games to secure the match points.

Notley Sports stormed into a commanding lead against Braintree Football Club with a 3-0 pairs win and a win in the triples, but singles wins for Mark Tilly and Andy Slade brought the Football Club back into the match.

Alan Dewar's singles win kept Football Club hopes alive, but a win for Graham Chinnery and victories in the final three games sealed singles and match honours.

Eagle B went into the singles with the advantage against Horse and Groom following a 2-1 pairs win and a draw in the triples and that advantage was soon extended with Ash Gibson and Andy Smith winning the first two games.

The Groom came back with wins for Tash Whitfield and Mark Cook, but with the Eagle claimed the three remaining games for singles and match points.

Andy Smith and Chris Holden hit 180s and Cressing A's Andy Holland a 116 shot out.