SWINDON MANOR ladies recorded a rare victory in a national team competition last Saturday since re-locating to Rodbourne from the Oasis.

Manor ladies registered a narrow 70-68 victory over Rivermead (Reading) in the second round of the Denny Plate.

Ladies bounced back from an 87-64 loss to Westlecot in round two of the Yetton Trophy to grab the second chance given to them in the Yetton Plate consolation tournament with both hands.

It also gave them ample revenge over Rivermead for eliminating them from the Plate competition last season 84-67 in round two.

Manor now progress to round three of the Plate and a meeting with West Berks (Newbury) who edged past Oxford City and County 67-66.

Manor men will be seeking a change in fortunes tomorrow (Sunday) when they face Oxford City and County in their third match this season in the Thames region of the Wessex League.

They are currently occupying the basement spot in the Thames table after suffering two defeats in their opening matches to Westlecot 98-64 and West Berks 99-42.

Manor men have failed to win or draw any of the eight rinks contested to date and have not collected any of the 32 points that were on offer in both games.

Consequently they are pointless and sit at the base of the region table, six points adrift of Rivermead (Reading).

Meanwhile, three players from Westlecot Bowls Club – Phil Gregory, Neil Smith and Mike Titcombe – will be competing at Potters Leisure Resort the annual venue at Hopton-on-Sea, Norfolk for the world championships in January 2020.

The trio finished in the top 32 of the Open Single Circuit rankings last season and qualified for the OSC 2019 Grand Final this weekend.

The competition, at Potters Leisure Resort, carries a prize fund of over £5,000 with £1,600 going to the winner and £800 to the runner-up.

The 32 players are drawn into eight groups of four and play a round robin tournament today with the top two in each group qualifying for Sunday’s last 16 knock-out stages.