The new format is all about picking up as many points as you can rather than individual wins or losses and this produced some thrilling encounters. Current unbeaten Division 1 Leaders Ramsbottom A had to chase down a deficit of 144 against Division 2’s St Philip’s A, so fielded Andy Jackson, 4 time Oldham Champion, Mark Ramsbottom, current Oldham Champion and Michael Moir the 6 time Bury Champion. Despite some outstanding play with 7 of the 9 sets played Ramsbottom still trialed by 20 points – a gain of 10 points in each of the last 2 sets would be enough but in the 8th match a brilliant performance by Clive Taylor kept Mark Ramsbottoms gain down to 6 points leaving Michael Moir needing 14 points against Derek Watmough in the nights final match. Michael won the first 3 sets taking 7 points meaning a game 3 win in the final set would put the league leaders through but Derek produced a fine performance taking 9 points meaning St Philips advanced with a fine 420-415 victory.
In another tight match Division 3’s Maccabi B managed to beat Shawfield D from Division 4 by a margin of just 4 points, 474-470. Going into the final match of the night Maccabi trialed by 13 points and it was left on the shoulders of young Dean Clyne to try and rescue the situation against Ashley Ingham. In the first set Dean lost 11-9, leaving him with 15 points to gain in just 3 sets but he responded to the pressure situation with 11-3 and 11-5 in the 2nd and 3rd set to gain 14 points and trial by just 1 point going into the final set of the night. Dean held his nerve, won 11-6 and it is Maccabi B who progress.
Not all of the matches were as close as these 2, Division 4’s Holmar A were supposed to be defending a lead of 61 against Shawfield B but extended this to 160 over the course of the evening to advance into the next round. Unfortunately St Philips B could only field 2 players so they were beaten heavily by Shawfield A 454-316 but credit must be given to St Philips for still attending the fixture even though they knew the game was unwinnable. Shawfields reward for their triumph will be a trip to 1st divisions Radcliffe CC. With the current Bury Champion Graham Jeffries in their ranks the current MacDonald Cup holders should prove a stern test for Shawfield.
Defending Dwyer Cup Champions St Sebastiens were drawn against 1st division Carlton Club A but a combination of generous handicapping and good play resulted in a 90 point win for St Seb’s.
Prestwich D, promoted from Division 3 last year and currently sitting 2nd in division 2 had a good victory over Maccabi C. Starting 98 points behind the trio of Andy McNabb, Steve Hathaway and Andy Evans made consistent gains and eventually won by 66 points.
Most of the other fixtures were still very much in the balance going into the final few matches of the evening and this is evidenced in the results of these games. Wardle Cons A, with Duncan Hadfield particularly impressive, beat Prestwich A, 545-496. The other Wardle Side went down to BGSOB A 510-483 in another hard fought game.
Stand were victorious in their encounter with the 2nd divisions Seedfield B. Holmar A made a total gain of 154 points to progress at the expense of Shawfield G. There were 2 matches played where a high division side had to chase a deficit of over 200 points against 5th division opposition. Adelphi fell just short of the target against Shawfield F but Polish Catholic Club were able to claw back the difference against Seedfield G.
In the Prestwich derby the F team beat the B team by a margin of just 41. Similarly close games were Holmar C’s 40 point victory over Claybank and Seedfield F’s 32 point victory over ELPM D. 32 was the winning margin also as Carlton Club C beat Shawfield E. Seedfield made it 5 teams out of 6 into the 2nd round as their D team bested Ramsbottom D in a match where there was only 1 point difference going into the final match of the night. The final fixture of the round saw the sides placed 1st and 3rd in division 3 lock horns with ELPM B managing to secure victory over an unfortunate Elton Vale by 28 points.
All sides which were defeated in the first round of the Dwyer Cup will now be entered into the Sponsors cup and fixtures for round 2 of the Dwyer Cup and Round 1 of the Sponsors Cup will be played during the week beginning 16th November.
