Burway within two wins of the Furrows bowls league

Burway are within two wins of the Furrows Shropshire Premier Bowls League after mounting a stunning comeback to dump shell-shocked Craven Arms out of the pre play-offs.

The dream looked to be fading for Tanners Shropshire League champions Burway as they fell 30 shots behind after the first four against Ludlow League winners Craven Arms at Bylet last night.

They were still 23 chalks down after the middle four but a clean sweep of the back four swept them to a dramatic victory by seven shots.

The result sets up a pre-play-off final against the winner of tonight's second semi-final between Hanwood and Abbey at Chester Road. The winner of the final will then play wooden spoonists Bylet for a place in next year's Premier League.

"It was a very exciting game," said Burway skipper Duncan Pressley.

"I wouldn't say I wasn't worried but I did have confidence in our players that we could turn it back in our favour — even after the terrible start."

Pressley was actually Burway's only winner in the first four, with the eye-catching result going to Craven Arms youngster Ben James — a 21-4 winner over the Tanners Shropshire League side's star man Wayne Rogers.

The middle four was shared but the game swung in the final four games, Burway turning the match on its head as Russell Davies, Chris and Kevin Dovey and Jolyon Partridge (21-8) came up with the goods.

"It seemed to end very quickly," added Pressley. "We were 14 down and then the last three games finished within a minute of each other and all of a sudden we'd won by seven shots."

Full scores in today's Shropshire Star