SULLY Indoor Bowls Club have returned to Championship action after the Christmas break with games against Rhondda (away) and Newport (home) losing to Rhondda and beating Newport.

Both games were important in the context of the league positions with four sides Sully, Rhondda, Newport and Taff Ely all in the mix.

On Saturday, January 9, Sully headed to Rhondda. Due to Rhondda only having a four rink stadium the game was played over two sessions with three rinks in the morning and three in the afternoon.

The three Sully morning rinks played well and were unfortunate to be just one behind at the end of the session, leaving the afternoon rinks in with a good chance of landing an

excellent win.

Unfortunately one of the rinks went down heavily losing by 16 shots which was the difference in the overall result. Sully won on three of the six rinks taking six points to Rhondda's 16 points.

The following Saturday (January 16), Newport were the visitors to Sully.

Newport came to Sully Stadium in a confident mood and are favourites to win the league but the Sully players were also confident especially with Sully fielding one of their strongest teams.

The game from the off was tight with very little in the scores throughout the first ten ends. Little had changed coming up to the 15th end where Sully held a slender advantage by just one shot.

Newport were pressurising on all rinks but at end 18 Sully still held that one shot lead and were responding well to the pressure. The Sully breakthrough came on the 19th end when they took eight shots across the rinks to go nine ahead with two ends to play.

Another one shot gained on the 20th end was followed by a further seven shots on the final end for a brilliant 17 shot victory, winning on three rinks taking 16 points to Newport's six points.

Sully travel to Rhondda for the second time in a couple of weeks on Saturday and a positive result will give Sully a chance of the league title.

Sully entered the WBA Knock-Out Cup this season for the first time in eight years and were drawn to play Blaenau Gwent at Sully. The game took place on Sunday and once again Sully came up trumps beating the first division side by just two shots, 81 - 79, to go into the Quarter Final Draw.

The Sully O'60's have once again qualified for the knock-out stages having won their Division and will play Merthyr at Pontardawe on Tuesday, February 9.