Wem USC powered clear at the top of the Furrows Shropshire Bowls League by scoring one of the two away wins last night.But it was Bylet and Newport who caused the biggest stirs by scoring fine home wins over title chasing pair Chester Road and Castlefields respectively.

Wem recovered from 3-1 down at Childs Ercall to win 9-5, opening up a three point lead and leaving the villagers rock bottom.

Wrockwardine Wood also boast four wins from five games after scoring a 9-5 success just down the road at Donnington to climb to fourth place.

Ifton are second after seeing off Ford 10-4 and surprise package Archibald Worthington march on in third after beating Sir John Bayley by the same score.

Bylet kept up their improvement of last season by easily accounting for the Roaders 11-3 while Newport produced a clean sweep of the middle to beat Castlefields 10-4, although there was only 10 chalks in the aggregate totals.

Reigning champions St Georges are clearly starting to find their feet and gave visiting Meole Brace little to cheer in an 11-3 romp.

Details:
Archibald Worthington 10 (+43, L Markham 21-6), SJ Bayley 4 (D Stamp 21-10); Bylet 11 (+66, M Harries 21-4), Chester Road 3 (C Weaver & A Duckett 21-18); Childs Ercall 5 (B Shore 21-12), Wem USC 9 (+41, M Jenkins 21-6).

Donnington Wood 5 (C Worthington 21-10), Wrockwardine Wood 9 (+23, R Stevens 21-7); Ifton 10 (+29, Rocky Jones 21-7), Ford (N Bound 21-5); Newport 10 (+10, D Perry, M France 21-12), Castlefields 4 (P Williams 21-11); St Georges 11 (+59, A Palin 21-4), Meole Brace (P Williams).

By Malcolm Fletcher