LLANGOLLEN have found the going tough in Division One of the North East Wales Badminton League.

Their struggles continued after travelling to meet up with Denbigh A, who promptly applied an 8-0 whitewash to their Denbighshire rivals.

Llangollen’s second men’s pairing of Dave Edwards and Karl Young came closest to winning a contest when they took on Richard Elston and Wayne Cooper.

Whilst Edwards and Young won the first game 21-15, Elston and Cooper fought back in the second to take it 21-15.

There was nothing to choose between the two pairs in the deciding game, which saw long rallies and sound tactics culminating in a tight finish in favour of Elston and Cooper.

The Denbigh pair held their nerve to take the game and the match 24-22.

Handicapped at the commencement of play by being short of two ladies, Llangollen hosted Deeside in their next match.

The visitors went on to comfortably take the fixture 6-2.

The standout match of the evening was at first mixed, where Llangollen’s Nik Evans and Jane Jones battled it out against Gareth Thomas and Cerys Brackenbury.

Victory ended up going to the Deesiders by a narrow 19-21, 21-16, 24-22.

Destined for demotion along with Llangollen, Flint Phoenix B were soundly beaten 8-0 away to Mold A.

At second mixed, Flint’s Chris Jones and Nicola White put up the most resistance on behalf of their team, but eventually they lost out in the deciding game to Pete and Debbie Walker, who took the match by 21-12, 19-21, 21-8.

The gulf in class between Division Two top dogs Eros and struggling Connah’s Quay was laid bare when the two met at Coleg Cambria.

The honours went to undefeated Eros by a clear 8-0 margin.

Aarthy Aravind and Sian Ellis went closest to a win for the Quay.

In a battling performance, opponents Kerry Roberts and Sheila Palmer raised their game and played skilful badminton.

The Eros pairing prevailed 21-10, 20-22, 21-13.

Connah’s Quay then visited Hawarden and suffered another defeat, this time with the home team handing out a 6-2 drubbing.

The player of the match for Connah’s Quay was Charlie Cahill, who played outstanding badminton throughout, particularly with Kris Paterson at second men’s.

They gave a dazzling display of attacking men’s doubles to edge out Ian Price and the evergreen Roy Thompson 21-19, 21-19.

Flint Phoenix C caused something of a shock when, in their Division Three fixture, they got the better of promotion hopefuls Llanferres C with a comprehensive 7-1 away win.

The Llanferres winners were Moira Bonar and Pauline Brooke-Rankin.

At second ladies, they played impressively and with greater control and technique to run out 21-19, 21-19 winners.

In their next fixture, Flint Phoenix C found visitors Denbigh B a tougher proposition.

In a closely contested match, a 4-4 draw represented a fair result on the night.

Alun Hughes was adjudged the player of the match for Denbigh.

He played brilliantly with Bethan Sian at third mixed, but together they found the shrewd and fast play of Jordan Donnelly and Gemma Browne too hot to handle.

Despite their best endeavours, the Denbigh duo went down 12-21, 16-21.

On April 7, the NEWBA seniors annual handicap tournament will be played.

This will be held at Deeside Leisure Center.

Entry forms are available from club secretaries, or they can be downloaded from the NEWBA website - newba.org.uk