The Bury first team entertained Urmston firsts in the Reyner Shield quarter-finals, to find themselves outgraded on all boards. After an early draw by Sheraz Khalil the home side cheered up a little, but a loss by Roy Wild put Urmston in front. A draw by Bernard Sharples was followed by a solid victory for Jim Litherland, and the scores were level, but Roger Howley was finding the going tough on top board, his opponent outgrading him by some thirty points, and Antony Lee and John Grindrod were fighting hard, but making no progress. When Anthony drew and Roger lost, despite a hard struggle, John, too, was left with no option but to agree a draw, and Urmston went through to the next round by the odd point, but leaving the Bury players feeling that they had not been disgraced.

 

Bury 1st  3 v Urmston 1st  4

RW Howley 0, KD Smallbone 1 ; A Lee 0.5, G Morris 0.5 ; R Wild 0, P Wheldon 1 ;

B Sharples 0.5, D Owen 0.5 ;  J Grindrod 1, D Horton 0 ; JA Litherland 1, J Hopkins 0 ;

S Khalil 0.5, A Smith 0.5.