GREAT Lever and Old Links are the first to cement their places in the BGA League semi-finals in September as the table-toppers of Leagues A and B and, with matches to spare.

The leaders made no mistake in their latest home encounters last week when Great Lever sank Chorley 5-3 and Old Links dismissed Turton 6-2.

Both teams have delivered an almost classic role to date having led all the way with few blemishes.

Currently, Old Links have only lost one match with three to play but their massive points total of 72.5 in league B leaves a huge gap for second place which has yet to be decided.

Great Lever has also provided a clean sweep at the top of league A with only two defeats and a total of 75.5 points which cannot be surpassed.

The Farnworth team captain, Anthony Whealing, said: “I am very proud of the team’s achievement this year.

"We had an additional motivation due to the sad loss of our club captain, Billy Coates, who passed away just days after being installed.

"We really wanted to win the division for him and his family.”

Old Links last won the League final in 2013 after a monumental tussle following a play-off when Links top player, Matt Buckley, holed out a winning put to claim the trophy.

“We have had a very good season this year,” said team captain Duncan Simm, “and we now await our semi-final opponents as they battle for second place.”

Meanwhile in league A, Horwich held their second place following a 5-2 home win against Bolton leaving them just 5½ points above Dunscar who failed to improve their position when they lost away at Hindley Hall to a narrow 4½-3½ score-line.

However, Dunscar remain third with three matches to play and have a game in hand over Horwich.

Chorley have had an up-and-down season and their slim chance of chasing second spot came to nothing when they lost to Great Lever last week while Bolton sank back to sixth place after failing at Horwich who took the honours 5-3.

The fight for second place in League B is still held by Breightmet with a 5½ points lead over Hart Common who have a game in hand.

It leaves the Common, Deane and Turton all with three to play with only 1½ points spread between them.