Dwyer Cup 3rd Round
First up it was 2nd division leaders Wardle A against 3rd division promotion chasers Maccabi B. Normally when writing match reports and referring to a player who has many years experience I tend to use words like craft, guile or cunning but none of these words would accurately describe Frank Sheldon as he put in a display which was just plain brilliant against 2nd Division Leaders Wardle A. Starting the evening 131 ahead it was inevitable that Wardle would eat into this but would they score enough? The answer was an emphatic no as Frank restricted his losses over the course of the evening to just 12 points and he was ably assisted by Dean Clynes, who himself conceded just 26 points and Alan Meltzer who put in a fine display. The Wardle side of Paul Howarth, Dennis Bradshaw and Simon King clawed back just 84 over the course of the evening to go down by 47 points, 489-442.
Maccabi will go on to face Holmar C who had a comfortable victory over 1st Division Seedfield A. In truth the handicapping was flawed in this match as Holmar were given an overly generous 225 point start and the team of Jack Berry, Trevor Candler and John Millington were never in any danger and went on to win by 51, 508-457. I think the handicap should have been about 200 so the slight error should not take away from what was a fine and thoroughly deserved win for Holmar and I am assured the match was still very keenly contested and the tension was only lifted in the 8th match of the evening when it became evident that Holmar would hang on for the win.
4th Division Carlton Club C entertained 5th division BGSOB B in what turned out to be a close encounter. BGSOB B started with a 118 point lead and after 2 matches Carlton Club’s were gaining ground but needed to pick up the pace, otherwise they would fall short of the target. Steve Evans duly obliged by making significant gains, which he did in all of his matches throughout the evening, and Carlton went on to win by a 33 point margin.
Runaway 3rd division leaders ELPM B faced Prestwich D who were promoted from that division last year. Prestwich were given 81 to chase and with 2 sets to play had this down to a manageable 30 points. In the 8th set Prestwich made a small gain but this left Andy McNabb the difficult task of taking 25 off the impressive Mark Willmore. Chasing such a deficit Andy had to go for his shots but this wasn’t to be his night and Mark made small gains in each of the sets to win the tie by 38 for ELPM.
Another Prestwich side, this time the C team hosted Seedfield C of the 3rd division. Prestwich were asked to chase 113 in this fixture and Paeder McKinstry had a fair crack at getting this back by himself as over the course of the evening he gained 69 points. Going into the final match of the night Paeder needed to take 26 to win the match for his team and after winning the first 11-2 to reduce the gap to 17 this seemed possible but Mike Charlton managed to keep the score down and steal the 3rd set in a tie break to ensure an 11 point victory for Seedfield.
St Philips A opted to field higher handicapped players to reduce the effects of the handicap against Shawfield C but still found themselves facing a 212 point deficit. On the face of it a huge task but there are 32 places between these sides and the previous games in cup competitions this year of sides with similarly vastly differing league positions have all started with around 200 points difference and resulted in very close matches but alas, this was not to be a close game and Shawfield C produced a fine performance to drop just 120 points over the evening and win by 92.
In the last round Radcliffe CC, currently 2nd in the 1st division and the holders of the MacDonald Cup, finished in a dead heat 439-439 with 3rd division Shawfield A but were victorious in the replay by 20 points. There reward for this was an away trip to the current Dwyer Cup Holders who have won this competition twice in the last 3 years and currently sit 2nd in the 4th division. To save time later in the week when writing these reports I tend to write the bit where I set the scene for the fixture in advance and I think that’s a nice opening paragraph, beautifully setting the scene but actually this game has been put back to the 22nd so I’ve no further info at this time!
The final match of the 3rd round saw 3rd division Stand take on Maccabi D of the 4th division. Stand were set the tricky task of chasing 150 points but started well and ate into the lead quickly. At the halfway stage Stand were still well behind but if they continued their momentum then they would be home and dry. Sadly for Stand, Maccabi’s Sheldon Lee hadn’t read the script and put in a great performance in the 7th game going down 43-42 to severly damage Stand's momentum. A good gain in the 8th left Chris Sutcliffe needing 29 in the nights final match up. Chris got off to a whirlwind start taking 15 in the first 2 sets and it looked like a stunning comeback would be achieved but Maccabi hung on and won through by 7 points.
Sponsors Cup 2nd Round
The tie of the round, If not the tie of the season so far, was 1st Division Prestwich A vs Maccabi C of the 4th division. In the 1st round Prestwich won through against 5th division opposition by just 10 points. On that occasion Prestwich had to come from 205 points behind and as Prestwich opted to field a stronger side by bringing in Adam Rowbotham they had to begin this match 195 points behind. Anything I write would not do this game justice so I will just cut and paste from the match report kindly supplied by Joe Redikin which is below:
The last set was between Adam and Les with Prestwich still 30 points behind. In the first game Les gained 5 of the 15 points needed, leaving him 3 more games to gain the extra 10 points for the win. This seemed fairly achievable but after Adam won the second to game 1 it then became an intense affair with Les needing to gain 9 points from the remaining 2 games. It was only at this stage that Prestwich felt 'in with a chance', and after a game 3 win in the 3rd Adam needed to beat Les game 5 or less in the final game for overall victory. With spinny serves and kills he managed to win game 3. An excellent evening's TT. Much more excitement than the old handicapping system with every single point played and lost being 'rued' at the end of the evening - especially by the sporting Macabbi team. Robert Clayton played particularly well on the night.
One of the other main advantages of the new system is the individual handicapping. This resulted in an unusual situation as 2nd Division Seedfield B hosted 3rd division Claybank. The unusual situation was that Graham Daniels of Claybank actually had the lowest handicap in the fixture due to his performances historically in the 2nd division. As for the match itself it was a topsy turvy affair.Claybank started 63 ahead , Seedfield progressively ate into only for Graham Daniels to then claw a handful back evey time he took the table. By the end of the 8th set it was still advantage Claybank as they led by just 8 points. It was Julian Nuttall vs Graham for a place in the next round but despite a fine performance Julian went down 33-37 so Claybank won the fixture by the narrow margin of just 12 points. Claybank will now face Prestwich B who were given a bye when Ramsbottom D were unable to raise a team.
Another exciting match saw Hilton Bury of the 1st division travel to Seedfield G of the 5th. 51 places separate these 2 sides in the league and this was reflected in the handicaps as Hilton had to chase the highest margin anyone has had to chase yet in the new competition format – 275 points. Hilton made steady gains throughout the evening and only in the final match of the evening did Hilton edge infront and they held on to win narrowly.
Hilton will go on to face the winners of Elton Vale and St Philips B who had a thrilling encounter. Both sides were in Division 2 last year with St Philips narrowly winning both of these fixtures and this was reflected in the handicapping as the Elton Vale trio of David Hall, Keith Mills & John Dodd were given a 76 point advantage. After winning 18 of the first 20 sets St Philips looked well on course for victory having reduced the deficit to just 19 points, with Ian Wheeldon impressive in clawing back 27 & he was ably assisted by John Biggins who had taken 17. The next few sets were mixed so with 2 to play Elton Vale led by 13. Dave Holden then gained 9 against Keith Mills to leave the score at 493 – 497 with 1 to play but a fine performance by David Hall in the final match meant that Elton Vale triumphed by 12 points, 536 - 524.
Maccabi A faced Shawfield B in another match which was a close run affair. Struggling for a side Maccabi had to call on their squad and Edward Freeman and Marc Sheldon stepped and performed admirably. Maccabi started 50 behind and steady gains throughout the evening meant that they won the match by just 15 points, David Philip being particularly unlucky for Shawfield. Maccabi go on to face ELPM C after their opponents Carlton Club A conceded their match against them.
The weeks final fixture saw Prestwich E give a 167 point start to 4th division strugglers Shawfield D. The Prestwich trio of Dave Bolton, Barrie Fleet and Ian Connell fought hard and made steady gains throughout the evening but there efforts were in vain as they fell just 19 points short of the target and it is Shawfield who go on to face Prestwich A.
In closing as with any new system there will always be some people who are against it and some people who really enjoy it. I recieve lots of feedback, largely positive but this week i got the most pleasing i have heard thus far which was from 3 seperate people all saying that traditionally they couldn't get out of the cups fast enough but this year they have thoroughly enjoyed the new format and are looking forward to the divisional cups in the new year. Please keep your feedback and thoughts coming.
**The next round of fixtures is scheduled for the 8th February which is the same week as the 2nd round of the new divisional cups. Handicaps for both competitions are already on the website so if there are fixture or venue clashes sides are asked to liaise with your opponents and try and bring 1 (or both) of the games forward. If it all possible please do not push the games back. If you have no choice but to push a game back can you let Simon King or Keith Warrington know in advance – Thank You.**
