NEW Earswick Indoor Bowls Club Ospreys went into the Christmas break with a 75-68 win over local rivals York Romans.

Gordon Fratson, Dave Counter, Doug Carr and John Taylor lost their game with A. Lockwood, N. Mallen, I. Mackland and M. Snowden.

After winning the first end, they were always behind but fought back to within two shots at 12-10 down after 16 ends. They only scored one more single, though, and went down 22-11.

Stuart Moore, Dave Turner, Pete Waddington and Alan Shearer were always just behind R. Wynn, N. Ellis, B. Dearlove and T. Scott in a very close contest and took a one-shot lead after 14 ends.

The Romans won the next two ends to lead 15-12 but the Falcons hit back, winning the last five ends to take the rink 18-15.

At Thanet Road, Gordon Johnson, Ian Carr, Vic Thompson and Barrie Shipley were 10-1 down to C. Arnett, D. Scott, K. Robinson and R. Munro after eight ends.

They pulled the score back to 12-7 after 15 ends before the teams shared the last six ends for a 17-12 Romans win.

In the final game, Christmas came early for Phil Whitehead, Dave Crane, Alwyn Anderson and Bob Barrett as the Ospreys were showered with shots.

They led J. Munday, J. Hughes, J. Sandle and A. Yowarth 20-1 after just six ends. After that, the two teams matched each other, with the final score 34-14.

New Earswick Falcons lost 74-66 to Scarborough in the over-55s.

At home Dave Imeson, Bill Nuckey, Dick Osguthorpe and Mick Head lost the first five ends to go 9-0 behind. They had the better of the next 11 ends to reduce the deficit to four shots with six ends to play but went down 28-13.

Dave Clayden, Brian Birch, Barry Johnson and Kevin Liddell fought back from 7-0 down to 16-15 down, only to lose 20-15.

In Scarborough, John Harrison, Paul Murray, Eric Cookson and Ralph Tiplady won 23-14 in a very close, low-scoring game.

Dave Furness, Graham Lockwood, Eric Cookson and Paul Dawson enjoyed a 15-12 win.