MAUDSLAY held their nerve to edge out Lodge Farmers by only five pins in a quite thrilling Studley Skittles League clash.

The eventual winners had opened up a 10-pin advantage after three legs and looked set for a comfortable win.

But in leg four, Lodge Farmers had three stacks in a total of 89 pins, their highest-ever leg score, to lead by 14 pins going into the final legs.

Maudslay’s response was almost as good as they scored 81 pins to leave Lodge Farmers wanting 68 to win, but they could not maintain their previous leg form and just missed out.

Tom Roberts made 45, Mark Sanseverino 44 and Paul Matthews 38 for Maudslay.

For Lodge Farmers, Tim Jones (43) equalled his team’s, and his own, highest individual score for the season.

With most missing results now in, it was all change for the teams placed fifth to 10th with only eight points separating the six teams.

Alley Cats paid the heaviest penalty, dropping three places after fielding only nine players against Jumbo Jet Set, who seem to be finding some form at last.

Jumbos built up their lead in each leg to run out easy winners as Rich Johnston made 39, John McManus 35 and Mick Stanton 34.

The best scores for Alley Cats came from Graham Batchelor 33; and Tony O’Connor and Moira Gazeley with 30 each.

The middle of the table became even more congested when Well Developed slumped two places in losing to Alcester Nomads, who went back into top spot.

It was all square after leg one, but Nomads took a slender three-pin lead after the first three legs, which they extended to 12 pins in leg four before setting their opponents an unlikely 75 to win. And so it proved when Well Developed could only manage a disappointing 43 pins in the last leg.

For Nomads, Penny Moore had a great debut when she top-scored with 38. Mac Eaton also made 38 and Geoff Lout, Gordon Povey and Alan Cummings all recorded 34 points.

Well Developed had Martin Brennan making 40, Jim Child 37 and Dave Bevan 32.

Result: Maudslay 8pts (344 pins) – Lodge Farmers 3pts (339 pins); Jumbo Jet Set 10pts (325: 10 players & 308: 9 players) – Alley Cats 1pt (262: 9 players); Well Developed 2.5pts (299) – Alcester Nomads 8.5pts (326).