THIRD-PLACED Oakgate narrowly beat seventh-placed Hawkshaw B 10-8 in a Bolton Badminton League A Section match which proved far more competitive than some would have anticipated.

Playing second couple for Hawkshaw, Deb Taylor and Paul Baker shared the opening games with a 21-14 victory in the first and a 21-15 defeat to Oakgate’s first pair, Ana Viza and Iqbal Khan, in the second.

Hawkshaw’s first couple, Janette Norris and Oliver Gregory, then won 21-12, 21-15 against Mandy Wilkinson and Ali Modan.

When the third couples met, Oakgate’s Laura Woodburn and Simon Froude brought their team back on level terms with 21-18, 21-15 wins against Sarah Gradwell and Ryan Colins.

The games were shared in the first couples’ clash with Norris and Gregory taking the first 21-16 and Viza and Khan claiming the second 21-14.

Hawkshaw then went 6-4 ahead when Taylor and Baker claimed the second couples’ games 21-14, 21-7 against Wilkinson and Modan.

Oakgate were next to get on the scoreboard in a match which see-sawed throughout, Woodburn and Viza claiming the first pair of ladies’ games 21-10, 21-7 against Gradwell and Norris to even the score at 6-6.

In the first pair of men’s games, Hawkshaw’s Colins and Gregory took the first 21-11, and Froude and Khan won the second 21-12.

Woodburn and Wilkinson won the first game in the second pair of ladies’ games 21-15 for Oakgate, but in a tight second game a determined Gradwell and Taylor hit back to win 23-21 and make the overall score 8-8.

Oakgate’s men, Froude and Modan, then claimed the final two games, a relatively comfortable 21-9 and a nail-biting 22-20 against Colins and Baker to win the match, the last game of the night summing up the closeness of the contest.