Week eight of the MTBA National League at the Eden SuperBowl saw leaders Aercomms and chasers Fina First register a matching pair of 6-2 wins, enabling them to drift slightly ahead of the pack.
There was a total of five 6-2 scorelines from the six top-flight matches last week and one tied match. Many bowlers found the going tough. This was reflected in their scores. But, not surprisingly, it was Fina First who pulled off the highest series with 2,315 pins.
Fina First took on Royal Shock quietly confident of an eight-point boost towards their catch-up campaign. They were right on track straightaway as they easily took the opening two games. This placed Fina a daunting 330 pins ahead as the teams headed into game three, meaning that a drawn result was out of the question.
It was then that Royal Shock did indeed live up to their name, clinching a shock 772-753 win to claim their two-point share. Sue Abela took a 611 series for Fina First but none of the Royal Shock four could put together a 500+ series.
The match between Aercomms and Maltacom started off with the league leaders taking a marginal 735-742 victory in game one. The nerves of that close encounter seemed to melt away for Aercomms, as they then took the second game easily, giving them a 96-pin cushion.
Aercomms may have been a little too confident then as they went down with a low 702 in game three against Maltacom's 750 winner.
Fina Excel's recent form failed them as they lost 6-2 to Abandoned, the latter just managing to hoist themselves out of the red zone with this favourable result.
Excel still retain third place in spite of the loss, which resulted from defeats of 686-698 and 690-814 in games one and two, before they regained their mettle to win the third 781-722 for their quarter share of the points.
Another 6-2 scoreline went in favour of Globalair Travel, to the detriment of Ramis who dropped to 10th place with the defeat. The other 6-2 result fell to Mizzi Organisation in their basement clash with bottom team BoV Lifelink.
The BoV side went on to roll the lowest series of the week (1,992) handing the series points to Mizzi Organisation for their 142-pin superiority on the set.
The other match in programme, between Palatino and DAB Beer finished in a four-all draw.
DAB finished 67 pins higher on the series to award their better playing consistency with an equal share of the points.
Standings: Aercomms 58, Fina First 49, Fina Excel 44, DAB Beer 41, Maltacom KSSK 36, Globalair Travel 32, Royal Shock 28, Palatino 26, Abandoned 23, Ramis 20, Mizzi Organisation 19, BoV Lifelink 6.
Bowlers of the Week: Ray Mifsud (653, Toons Two); Sue Abela (611, Fina First).