BLACKHEATH & Greenwich Bowls Club reached the semi-finals of the London and southern counties BA Shield with a fine 89-62 shots win against Atherley from Hampshire.

The two away rinks took an early nine shot lead, which they steadily increased.

But at home things where very different as Atherley led by four shots at five ends.

With B&G's home squad not able to close the gap, it was left to the away team to increase the overall lead.

Atherley, having held a slender overall lead at five and 10 ends, found themselves behind by 64-47 at 15 ends thanks to a 15 shots to one burst of away scoring.

Not to be outdone, the home rinks staged a remarkable comeback by scoring 11 shots to one, which left B&G winning all four rinks.

But they could not maintain their form next day in the regional finals of Bowls England's Top Club, losing 5-0 to Hove and Kingsway.

Jeff King lost for the first time 18-21 to Ollie Ovett and Steve Marratt went down to Hove's Paul Horstead 17-14.

There were also defeats for the pairs (16-24), triples (14-16) and the fours (19-26).