THE birds of prey met for the first time in Yorkshire Over-55s division two when the New Earswick Falcons took on their club rival Ospreys and fought out a close encounter.

In the first match the Falcons' quartet of Paul Murray, Mick Stannard, Bob Edwards and skip Barry Johnson were all square at five all after eight ends against Martin Stubbs, Vic Reed, Bruce Dobson and Bob Barrett.

The Falcons then picked up a four and a six to lead 19-12 after 16 ends but the Ospreys won four the next five ends and went into the final end only two shots behind.

Skip Barrett ran the jack into the ditch to hold five shots but Barry Johnson managed to draw third wood for the game to finish all square at 20-20.

In the next clash, the Ospreys' Brian Harton, Alan Price, Dave Firn and Kevin Potter led 6-0 after two ends only for Dave Imeson, Barry Harrison, Colin Ellis and Ralph Tiplady to pick up two fives and a four to lead 14-7 after six.

Both teams picked up 12 shots in the remaining 15 ends as the Falcons came through to win 26-19.

The Falcons rink of Bob Elliot, Pat Inwood, Eric Cookson and skip Tony Abbot got off to a consistent start and had scored 17 shots against the Ospreys rink of John Broadhead, Barry Shipley, Alwyn Anderson and Terry Bellwood’s five singles after 15 ends.

Ospreys dug in to pick up five shots in the last six ends but lost 19-10.

In the final match, the Falcons' Dave Sykes, Rod Walker, Dick Osguthorpe and Mick Head always had the lead in the first half of the game against Dave Hutchinson, Keith Little, Vic Thompson and Brian Birch.

But the Ospreys picked up seven shots in three ends to level at 13-13 after 13 ends.

The Falcons then struck with seven shots in the next five ends to lead 19-14 with three to go but, once more, the Ospreys fought back. They went into the last end needing two to draw and found three to win by one at 20-19.

Overall, the Falcons picked up 11 points and the Ospreys three points.

New Earswick IBC got off to a flying start in both home games against Leeds in their Yorkshire League division two match.

Dave Imeson, Colin Ellis, Kevin Liddell and Bill Waldie found themselves 9-8 down to C Briggs after four ends but 18-14 up after nine ends.

The scoring then settled down after that as Earswick went on to win 30-21.

Bob Elliot, Rod Walker, Dave Elcock and Mick Head won ten of the first 14 ends to lead S Bottomley’s rink 18-6.

The Leeds rink then picked up three threes in the next five ends to close the gap to 21-16 with two to go but Earswick drew away to a 25-16 win.

In the away games, Dave Sykes, Dave Kermode, Ralph Tiplady and Paul Dawson were 4-4 after four ends against P Hil's rink but were never behind, despite dropping four threes, on their way to a 22-16 victory.

In the final game, Gordon Fratson, Dick Osguthorpe, Brian Gray and Andrew Fothergill only scored five singles in the first 12 ends as they trailed P Holleran's team 12-6.

They went on to win eight of the last nine ends for an 18-13 success. It meant New Earswick took maximum points as they continued their good start to the season.