St Andrews began their national indoor season with a narrow 93-83 defeat by a strong Clevedon team in the mixed Top Club competition.

Clevedon started well by winning both singles matches. Saints’ Tim Wyatt was 13-13 against Simon Fuidge before losing by seven. Becky McMillan, Saints’ national indoor singles champion, fought back from 13-3 down against national outdoor two-wood title-holder Laura Holden to lead 17-14, but the latter finished strongly to win by three.

With two points awarded for each of the singles, Clevedon led 4-0. However, Sue Sinclair and Barrie Forse were ahead from the start of the mixed pairs and their impressive, nine-shot victory made it 4-4, with Clevedon edging overall shot-difference by one.

All depended on the triples and fours, which were going well for Saints until Phil Villis’s trio dropped a six on the seventh end. After that Clevedon's triple, including national outdoor singles champion Stef Branfield and her ex-international father Pip, proved too strong, winning by 13.

Si Angove’s four needed a big victory to make up for the triples defeat and were ahead throughout but their eventual four-shot margin meant that Clevedon went through to the next round by 10 .

Saints will be hoping for better luck when they meet Clevedon again later this month in both the men’s Denny Cup and the mixed Egham Trophy.

National Top Club: St Andrews 8pts. Clevedon 8pts (Clevedon win 93-83 on shot-difference). Men’s Singles – T Wyatt 14-21. Women’s Singles – R McMillan 18-21. Mixed Pairs – Sue Sinclair/B Forse 23-14. Mixed Triples – Judy Forse, D Johnston, P Villis 10-23. Mixed Fours – G Millard, Jackie Pitman, Jean Whittaker, S Angove 18-14