THE surprise result of the week was a 2-1 rinks defeat for Hexham House at Alston in a West Tyne Cup semi-final.

In a league match early in the season, House had won all four rinks, but despite one big win this time, and an overall shots advantage, two of their three teams lost and Alston progressed.

Their opponents will be Elvaston, who just managed to squeeze past Allen Valley (2-1).

This result was also in doubt right to the end, with calculations being made as to shots in the event of a tie, but Elvaston pulled back from an early deficit to hang on.

It was a bad week for Hexham House as their Nines team had no game because they could not field a team, while the Knight league team slipped out of the promotion places in Division Four after a 12-2 defeat at home by Springbank.

Elvaston remain top of Division Two in the Nines after a 6-2 win. The ladies suffered a big defeat at Burradon in their league match, but other results mean that they are still in mid-table.