CROYDON'S attempt to lift a medal in the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games were left in tatters following the no-show by one of the team of three for last Saturday's match at Tylers Common.

And a poor draw for Tom Barnard left him struggling for bites on the normally productive Horseshoe Lake.

But out of the debris 12-year-old Kieran Bibb shone through, putting in a terrific performance on Ash Lake to come eighth overall out of 21 teams and gain the borough valuable points, although it was still the worst score for a decade.

Less than a pound was caught by Barnard and was returned in the knowledge that it was unlikely to make any difference.

But Bibb was on prolific Ash Lake and after an hour giving a chance for the margin swims to build was soon bagging up with carp on pellet over pellet. I was particularly impressed that, unlike many, he was prepared to feed his swims all the time, not just feeding and forgetting.

While his technique could benefit from more work, there was no doubting his effort and enthusiasm and he finished with 39-8-0, though one pole top was smashed by a good fish.

Enfield won for the second year running but the 33rd year of the competition is the last where total weight determines the winning team as section points kick in next year. Their Matt Oliver set a new individual record from peg eight on Ash hammering out 167-12-0 of carp on corn fished in the margins.

Result: 1 Matt Oliver, Enfield, 167-12-0; 2 Alfie Homewood, Greenwich, 90-14-0; 3 Matthew Chipping, Hillingdon, 87-6-0; 4 Jamie March, Redbridge, 84-8-0; 5 George McKimber, Bexley, 55-0-0; 6 James Geochan, Enfield, 42-4-0; 7 Thomas McElvey, Harrow, 41-6-0; 8 Kieran Bibb, Croydon, 39-8-0.

Teams: 1 Enfield, 229-4-0; 2 Hillingdon, 136-2-0; 3 Greenwich, 102-6-0; 4 Redbridge, 97-3-0; 5 Harrow, 88-14-0; 6 Bexley, 56-2-0; 7 Havering, 50-12-0; 8 Croydon, 39-8-0.

WARLINGHAM and DAS also struggled at Bough Beech Reservoir last Sunday where blustery conditions saw foot-high waves.

It clearly proved too much for six anglers who failed to catch. Mark Merrett of Thornton Heath fished an open end feeder and double red maggot to tempt around eight skimmer bream for 4-12-0.

Jasper Stevens was second with 4-8-0 and Martin Cook was some way behind on 1-7-0. This Sunday Warlingham visit Willow Park Middle Lake and are likely to encounter the new owners of the venue as well as better sport.