CURRENT opponents of Eagley enjoy the titillating bonus of wondering who will face them. Draw the short straw, as did Walmersley B this week, and you suffer the far more serious psychological stuffing provided by Sean Gallagher, Steve Holt and Carol Hartopp and long-whimpering days in a dark room.

Gallagher as ever made maximum gain from minimum movement, not least up court where he somehow swarmed over the net without actually moving, emotionlessly nudging volleys left, right and back again to leave opponents in jibbering confusion. By contrast Steve Holt startles with the sheer grasshopper energy and abruptness of his net play, covering yards in a single bound and splattering volleys with foaming, rather alarming gusto. Meanwhile, Miss Hartopp smacks laser drives from all points with withering effect.

Confronted by this were Bill Gavin who not only is not given to this hooligan behaviour but quite the reverse, as befits the only man in the league with a crease in the back of his shorts and those unflappable ladies Mandy Winskill and the poised, polished Jill Ashworth. Walmersley prevailed.

As with Eagley a match versus a Bolton School team can surprise with the guest list. Hence when Bolton School A met Bolton School C there was much social greeting and then the rather tiresome task of deciding who was on which side.

Dave Ball doesn't get every shot over the net but he does convey a certain on-court machismo. This week it was Anne Mooney who was subject to Ball's peremptory calls -- and obeyed with merely a lowered lid. Some blokes ....

Results -- Division One: Holcombe Brook A 34, Walkers C 20; Walmersley A 32, Bolton CC 25; Markland Hill A 35, Monton 18.

Division Two: MGB 41, Harwood 16; Bradshaw 32, MGB 17; Walmersley B 33, Eagley 19; HRM A 39, HRM B 16.

Division Three: Chorley 3, Holcombe Brook B 21; David Lloyd 36, Guild Hall 15; Bolton School B 30, Walkers B 14; Bolton School A 28, Bolton School C 27.