IN an extremely close race to take the Southend League Premier Division title, Runnymede A need five points from their last match to overtake Rawreth A and B, who are level pegging at the top of the table, to claim the honours. Dave Bowles, Stuart Gibbs and Kevin Caldon kept a clean sheet against Lentern A to put themselves in what appears to be a comfortable position. Rawreth A also had a 9-0 win thanks to hat-tricks from George Reeves, Charles Sweeny and Chris Jacob in their match against Customs A. Rawreth B beat their club’s C team 8-1 with hat-tricks coming from Babul McLeod and Steve Tilson but Gus Heath prevented the whitewash with a win over Eric Green. In Division One, Hadleigh Forum have one match left to play but, following their 7-2 win over Canvey A, they are clear winners. Garry Hartgrove was unbeaten and he was supported by Russell Bright and Graham Farmer who each bagged a brace, both of them being denied their maximums by Ray Wilson.

Rawreth D take the runners-up place. Andrew Halling kept his 100 per cent record in their match against RESSC A with support coming from Andy Nunn and Jim Stait, who banked two wins each. Both of them fell victim to Mike Worship.

In Division Two, Canvey B have taken the title, 18 points clear of their nearest rivals. In their last match they overcame Legra C 8-1 with Des Duffield and Terry Giddens winning all their games, but Sam Chesher won the last game of the match against Tony Reed to spoil Canvey’s clean sheet.

Lentern E have claimed second place following their 8-1 win over Wakering. Talbot Wiseman and Ray Farmer won all their games while Peter Lucraft lost his first game of the match to Cliff Noakes, but recovered to win his next two.

In Division 3A, Canvey C are out of sight at the top of the table, but the battle goes on behind them. Hadleigh Forum C are hanging onto the runners-up place despite losing 4-5 to the David Lloyd Centre for whom Jan Thorpe led the way with a hat-trick. He was backed up by Steve Marr who won two games but was denied his maximum by Forum’s two game winner Dave Thomas.

In Division 3B, Trevor Vincent led the way for Hockley in their win over Runnymede D. Paul Strutt added a pair — as did the fast improving Josh Copeland to give them a 7-2 victory. Another young player to watch out for is Runnymede’s Charlie Bates who banked two wins.