Percy's Year in the Fives

Percy BC win the 2nd Northumberland 5s

Saturday 20 April saw the second running of the now annual Northumberland 5s. Hosted by NLBC at its home green in Northumberland Park, the competition again saw six teams from five local clubs (Northumberland Linskill, Percy, Whitley Bay Monkseaton, North Shields West End and the 2023 winners Willington Quay) battle it out for the early season honours.

Played in surprisingly warm and dry conditions on, as would be expected, a heavyish green the morning session comprised the Pairs and Triples matches. As with the inaugural competition in 2023, each team played three 6-end games in each format against randomly-drawn opponents.

By the midday break things were tight. Percy led the way on 8 points with two wins in each format, with Willington Quay, North Shields WE and Whitley Bay Monkseaton (WBM) tied on 6 points (3 wins each). Generous hosts that we are, our two NLBC teams followed closely behind on 5 points. Notable performances came from the WBM Pairs who won all three games and the Northumberland Triples with two wins and 1 draw.

The afternoon session saw Fours and Singles with the way being led by Percy & North Shields WE - both with four wins and eight points. Linskill and WBM also performed well, both gaining seven points, while Northumberland (4) and Willington Quay (3) brought up the rear.

This meant the final outcome was a clear win for Percy with the Top 3 looking like this:

Percy 8 wins, 16 pts

NSWE 7 wins, 14 pts

WBM 6 wins, 1 draw, 13 pts.

Congratulations Percy - a strong performance across all formats and a well-deserved win. NLBC is hoping to put up a better showing next year!

Thanks to all club members who supported another excellent day; hopefully this was the perfect start to a great season.