There has been fairly little discussion of either of the top two divisions, so I'll add a few comments to encourage Jonathan to take over.David Robertson wrote:What happened to your own in here? They used to be good
Division 1c
Cheddleton look like they will cruise to 2nd place, but I find it hard to imagine they have a real chance against Guildford especially as, if I had to guess, Guildford will be able to strengthen their team more than Cheddleton will. Still, it should be an interesting match and if Cheddleton can get their strongest team out, there probably won't be much more than 100 points between the sides. The battle for 3rd will probably be between White Rose and Barbican 1, given that Wood Green have already played both sides. I'm not entirely sure who is favourite (I guess Barbican probably have slightly more strength on the bottom boards). Blackthorne Russia are also in with a shot of a top 4 finish as they have already played both Guildford 1 and Cheddleton.
1d
After two weekends SoA, Sussex Martlets and White Rose 2 all looked certain to go down (and they may well still do), but the Martlets and SoA have now given themselves a shot at staying up, and the winner of their match in Round 10 may only need to win one other match to survive. White Rose 2 have not had the same fortune although I'm sure they've just been saving themselves for facing Sussex in round 11! It seemed initially the battle would be for who would get relegated along with those 3 sides. South Wales Dragons were probably early season favourites for that honour, but they have aquitted themselves very well and should be in the promotion pool if it weren't for only drawing 4-4 with the Martlets in a match which they were cruising to victory in. Surprisingly Grantham Sharks look to be in a bit of trouble (after being in the promotion pool last year) having lost to both Sussex and SoA so they will need to beat at least one of Oxford or 3Cs in the final weekend to survive and that looks by no means a simple task (they may be let off the hook though if their second team manages to get promoted). Both 3Cs and Oxford look to have the strength to be safe even if they haven't clinched the points yet to be certain. Cambridge still have White Rose to play which if they win would take them up to the magic number of 6 points, but given White Rose's lack of points so far, I would be surprised if 6 points were enough and so there is a good chance their fate will come down to their final round match against Spirit.