THE third round of Crewe Oddies Club Open League Winter Team Knockout threw no real surprises as Premier Division side Pioneers A sailed through to the quarter finals beating second division Brunel B 6-1 at darts and 5-1 at dominoes to give them a 11-2 aggregate victory.

The only slight surprise was the defeat of Eight Farmers A by Division One team Cheshire Cheese, who beat a higher-ranked side for the second round running. Farmers took the darts 4-3 but the dominoes went to the wire, being decided on the final pairs game to see them through to the next round with an 8-7 aggregate success.

Horseshoe were another Premier Division side taken to the wire, with the pairing of Simon Phillips/Graham Piggott winning the decisive dominoes pairs game to earn an 8-7 aggregate passage into the quarter-finals.

The other Premier sides left in the competition had comfortable victories, with Vine A registering an 8-6 win over visitors Express. Cosey Club, assisted by a Dave Wood 18 darter and Ross Gilder Jnr hitting a 180, were 10-3 victors over fellow Premier Division side Amalgamated B.

It was a cliff hanger at the Hawk as visitors Amalgamated A took the darts 5-2 but Hawk retaliated at dominoes winning four of the six singles game to close in. However, Bill Ryder and Dave Wells won the decisive pairs game to see Amalgamated A into the quarter-finals.

Nantwich Road A and Woodside both had easy 10 -5 victories over respective opponents Division Four sides Hop Pole B and Junction.

The draw for the quarter-finals to be played 23 January 2017 is as follows: Vine a v Pioneers A, Amalgamated A v Cosey Club, Woodside v Cheshire Cheese and Horseshoe v Nantwich Road A.

There were several re-arranged league games played, including Rising Sun A’s draw with Dishers B in darts Division Two thatresulted in no positional changes.

A 4-4 draw between Brunel C and Capt Webb also saw no change in Division Three’s league positions.

Division Four saw Simon Cope’s 20-dart leg for Dishers A aid in the 7-1 trouncing of Coach & Horses to lift them two places to second, three points behind leaders Nags B.

Division Two dominoes leaders Dishers B let slip a 3-1 lead as Rising Sun A rallied to win 5-3. Dishers are now five points clear ahead of Coppenhall Club, with Sun A moving up from bottom to fifth, three points off a trophy place.

Brunel C’s 5-3 win over Capt Webb lifts them three places to third place in Division Three, but without the points deduction they incurred they would have been much more of a threat to the top two.

Dishers A’s 4-4 draw with Coach & Horses leaves them at the top of Division Four with a five-point advantage over second-placed Hop Pole B.