YORK Indoor Bowls Club progressed into the national Yetton Trophy quarter-finals after beating Houghton 108-56 courtesy of three winning rinks.

York now play Barwell at the neutral venue of Newark IBC a week on Saturday.

At Thanet Road, Dot Kennelly, Maureen Walker, Melanie Brooke and Linda Harrison were 4-1 down after two ends before a four then a two set them on their way to a big 37-11 victory.

Carol Banks, Pauline Armitage, Sue Kirkpatrick and Helen Wood also put in a commanding performance as they led 25-0 after 11 ends and finished 32-10.

Up in the North East, Lynda Parker, Tina Robinson, Hayley Robinson and Helen Walker were level at 2-2 before winning eight of the following 10 ends to open a 16-5 lead. The Houghton side pulled back to 16-13 but Walker's team pulled away again to win 21-15.

Joan Jackson, Pat Potter, Sheila Turpin and Carol Instone led 14-11 but then eight dropped shots left them chasing the game which they eventually lost 20-18.

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire Over-55s League division two, York Romans played North Cave Maroon optimistic of a second victory on the trot after the away rinks came away with a 15-shot advantage.

However, high-flying Maroon hit back at Thanet Road to nick the contest 70-69.

At North Cave, York's Colin Robinson, Dennis Walls, Mal Rankeillor and Allan May went 12-0 up after seven ends and won 18-14, while Andy Lockwood, John Munday, Dave Clarke and Ray Clark took control from 7-6 up to win 21-11.

At home, though, Pat Simpson, Alan Braithwaite, Alan Yoward and Trevor Scott got back from 7-1 down to 8-7 ahead only to lose a tight game 19-17, and Pete Waring, Ron Munro, Gordon Walker and Mick Snowden crucially lost 26-13.

York IBC's New Year's Eve Pairs competition again proved popular with a maximum entry.

Sheila Turpin and Ray Wynn were the winners, after beating Bill Carter and Nigel Macdonald 9-5 in the final.

However, they had needed a miraculous 15-1 victory in their last game of the group stage to jump from 13th in the table to fourth and make it through to the semi-finals.

There they defeated unbeaten table-toppers Alan Potter and David White 9-4, helped by a four, while in the other semi-final, Carter and Nigel Macdonald beat Jen Brown and Nigel's son, Neal Macdonald, 9-6. Both these duos had ended the group stage unbeaten.

In a ding-dong final, Carter and Macdonald led 3-1 but Turpin and Wynn, again aided by a four, prevailed.

In the Plate final, Rod Knight and Pauline Cooper led 4-2 only for Trevor Scott and Pete Waring to strike back with a seven then a four to triumph 13-4.

Knight and Cooper had held on to beat Dave Berwick and Andrew Brookes 6-5 in the semi-finals having led 5-1, while comeback kings Scott and Waring came from 6-0 down to beat Bernadette Johnson and Ken Simpson 7-6.

On the back of this successful competition, the Easter Pairs, which is played on the same basis, has already been filled with the maximum number of entries.

This weekend, York IBC hosts the Short Mat British Open. It starts at 8.30am on Saturday and is played over two days, with nearly 200 players from all around the world having entered.