ST MARY'S catapulted themselves from sixth to second following 12 points they garnered from two recent fixtures.

They began by dispatching Andover Sports 8-1 with three each from Michael Nash/Katie Woods and Dan Green/Andrea Woods and two from Tony Glinos/Alexandra Woods.

In their second game, they suffered their first defeat of the season losing out narrowly to BH Pegasus by 5-4. A treble from Martin Davey/Linh Clayburn and a double from Ramsey Domloge/Christie Yao saw BH Pegasus home. Green and Woods were the main scorers for St Marys. Their stay in second place was only temporary as Beechdown A reclaimed the position with a 7-2 home win over Andover Sport A.

Three rubbers came from Simon Broomfield/Karen Hume and Peter Leeds/Lisa Moran plus one from Dan Sheppard/Cathryn Perkins.

Beechdown are now five points adrift of leaders Waverley A with a game in hand.

Andover Sports Ladies have been the busiest team recently in the Ladies 4 League with 3-3 draws against the top two, Viking A and Beechdown A and then recording their first victory by demolishing bottom side Beechdown B by 6-0. Leaders Viking A still have a 10 point lead over Beechdown A at the top.

There were three games in Open Division One which effected both ends of the table. The first game saw leaders narrowly edge out relegation threatened Beechdown A by 5-4.

Peter Bevell/Ian Aherne and Andrew Mountford/Phillip Jaap scored braces for the leaders, with Dan Sheppard/Simon Broomfield battling their way to a hat-trick for Beechdown A.

The badminton gods smiled on Viking A as their relegation rivals failed to capitalise on their games in hand and they picked up a welcome five points in a 5-4 home victory over rivals Andover Sports A, who were only able to field two pairs.

In the final game of the week, Hurst A reduced the gap at the top with a 7-2 win over bottom side Andover. A treble from David Irvine/Mark Payne anchored the Hurst A victory. In the battle to avoid the drop Beechdown A have now moved one point ahead of both Viking A and Andover Sports A, but have played a game more than their two rivals.