THE two front runners in three of the Braintree Open Darts League's competitions, the Retreat and Cressing A, faced each and it was Cressing who came out victors.

A 3-0 win in the pairs, followed by a win in the triples, set Cressing up for overall match victory going into the singles.

Wins for Mick Cain and Andy Holland in the opening two singles ensured the match win for Cressing and while a 2-1 win for Vinnie Clark gave the Retreat some hope, successes for Bryan Willis, Tony Bamsey, John Abbott (with a 14-dart leg) and Peter Hayden secured the singles points.

Eagle B hosted Horse and Groom and after a 2-1 win in the pairs, found themselves losing the triples to the visitors.

Three of the first four singles went the Eagle's way, before Mark Cook's 2-0 win had the Groom back in the hunt, but with the Eagle winning the next two, they had the match and singles won.

Cressing B were at home to the Eagle A team and after losing the pairs 3-0, the home team bounced back with a win in the triples.

The opening four singles saw honours shared but with Mark Compton and Paul Baker winning the next two, Cressing had the singles won and were looking for the match victory, but Eagle's Kelvin Byrne won to ensure the match finished in a draw.

Swiss Bell took the pairs 3-0 and won the triples and opening two singles against Wethersfield Club to secure the overall match win.

However, Wethersfield responded with wins for Tony Boreham, Paul Brag, Kevin Taylor and Dave Suckling to secure the singles win.

Wethersfield Raiders lost the pairs 3-0 and the triples against visiting Legends and while Brendan Hand's 2-1 singles win gave the hosts hope, Dan Taylor and Chris Cook took the next two to give match points to Legends.

Andi Thomas gave the Raiders a singles lifeline with a 2-0 win, but victories for Tony Tatum and Chris Holden saw Legends add the singles win.

A 2-1 pairs win followed by a draw in the triples gave Braintree Football Club the edge against Notley Sports.

With the Football Club winning the opening two singles they had strengthened their overall match position before Dave Islip halted the hosts' progress, but winning the next three saw the match and singles points go to the Football Club.

Mark Compton hit two 180s, while Bryan Willis, Wayne Goodwin, Peter Hayden, Tony Holland, Dan Taylor and Ernie Holden all hit one apiece and in the ladies' high out shot competition, Sharon Keeble hit a 100 and Lynn Kelly moved top with a 116.