Townsend toppled the defending Top Club champions Garston in their own back yard to book a place in the final.

The match was evenly balanced throughout, with Townsend, through John Godman, winning the two wood singles by 17-8, only for Garston to draw level with victory in the other singles discipline.

The visitors then won the fours convincingly as the team of Alfie Long, Jason Hall, Peter Armstrong and Gary West was never really troubled by their opposition. The scores were levelled as Garston won in the pairs, leaving all to be decided by the triples.

With five ends to go Townsend were up by five shots but their hosts came back with a three, a one and a two to lead by one going into the final end. The final shot of the final end fell to Townsend skip Simon Gilbert, who casually drew in to score two and win the game and overall match for the visitors.

The winning trio who booked Townsend their place in the final were Alan Charran, Dave Houghton and Gilbert.

Andrew Briden and Danny Macro are through to the County Pairs semi-finals after beating Buntingford 24-14 and Royston 26-6.

Carl Robinson, Mike Cowell, Roger Potter and skip Peter Armstrong overturned a nine-shot deficit to beat Barton-le-Clay in the third round of the London and Southern Counties Fours.

Townsend’s fours were also successful in the district competition as John Godman, Andy Bates, Peter Armstrong and Roger Potter beat Hatfield 20-17 and Alan Charran, Mike Doherty and Barry and Carl Robinson edged home against a team from Harpenden 24-19.

Three triples team also recorded wins. Fred Mulberry, Les Perkins and Chas Prior overcame Harperbury 17-12; Peter Thomson, Jason Hall and Dave Houghton beat Welwyn; and Alan Charran, Mike Doherty and David Day progressed with a win against Harpenden.

In a home and away triples game against Potten End, Townsend won both rinks by an aggregate score of 48-25. The teams were: Ian Forster, Mike Doherty and Chas Prior and Alfie Long, Josh Briden and his father Andrew.