Defending Mike Tunningley Shield Holders Go Through

Sparken Hill Falcons who were last year’s winners of the Mike Tunningley Shield got the defence of their title off to a winning start against club colleagues Sparken Hill Eagles. The Eagles who are in the division above the Falcons started out as probable favourites and when they won the first match of the night when Alex Olliffe defeated Mick Potter 42-15 the early signs looked promising. But the defending champions are used to the handicap points format and started to dig in and make every point count with Jordan Potter and Neil Penny contribution 85 and 81 points respectively over the course of the match and although all three Falcons players all lost to Olliffe and Brian Allen they did manage to take vital points off John Hallgarth which finally amassed to a team total of 229 points. The Eagles trio managed to score 372 out of a possible 378 but when the sealed envelope was opened at the end of the match it revealed that the Falcons had been awarded a further 180 handicap points to give them a 409 points to 372 victory.
Probably the most impressive win of the first round came when Division One side DTH Redlands X-Youth found themselves on the wrong end of a 414-378 defeat to the bottom side in Division Three The Real Deal. Although the Real Deal trio of Glen Gillgrass, Michael Candy and Adam Kijak lost every game they kept plugging away and totalled enough points on the table to add to their handicap of 275 to go through to the next round. The games that turned the match in their favour were when Kijak took 30 points off of Keiran Tutter, 28 off of Clive Eden with Glen Gillgrass getting in on the act to take 24 also off of Tutter.
The battle between two of the top three teams in Division One wasn’t nearly as close after the handicap points were added as some had predicted. On the table the match between DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys and Worksop Miners Welfare was a tight affair with the Welfare side only going behind once after Farrel Anthony had beaten Mick Bell 42-24 but give the Toys a 3-point advantage but it wasn’t to last as Richard Element beat Steve Walker in the next match to put Welfare back in front where they stayed for the remainder of the night. Element produced a Player of The Match performance winning all his games on the night with Bell and Dave Marsh also adding vital points to their team’s cause. On the table Welfare won by 317 points to 294 and then were given a further 72 points handicap to make the final score 389-294.
Another tight affair came when Worksop Welfare Snipers from Division Two hosted Stanley Street ‘A’ from Division One. Street ‘A’ scored 373 out of a possible 378 points on the table with Jack Kirkland being the stand out player as he won all his games registering the maximum points possible of 126. He was well supported by his team mates with Peter Eyre adding 124 and Alex Millward adding 123 points which gave their side a total of 373. The Snipers battled bravely all night and Nigel Stent, Ben Swain and Tony Swain pushed their opponents all the way and added 256 valiant points of their own but when the envelope was opened to reveal the handicap points the 104 they were given wasn’t just quite enough and the ended going out of the competition 373-360.
DTH Redlands Demolition Men had a good win over more illustrious opponents when they handed out a 394 points to 359 defeat to Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘A’ who ply their trade in the division above the Demolition Men. Perry Bradford, Derek Piper and Ethan Shevill scored 242 points on the table with their opponents George Makrakis, Mitchell Radford and Kay Wilson scoring 359 which turned out not to be enough as the Demolition Men were awarded a further 152 handicap points to add to their total giving them a 394-359 win in their favour.
The biggest winning margin in the competition came when Stanley Street ‘B’ gave Manton Tigers a bit of a mauling beating them 360-228. With both teams off of scratch the night belonged to Mark Sansom who beat all three Tigers in Phil Hall, Steve Beeston and Dave Bowns to return maximum points from himself with both Andy Kirkland and Chris Tilstone not far behind him.
Other Mike Tunningley Shield Results: Worksop Owls 391 DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 354, Sparken Hill Ospreys 289 Sparken Hill Starlings 340, DTH Redlands Roosters 378 DTH Redlands Rookies 353.
Division Three Result: DTH Redlands Red Devils 7 Sparken Hill Hawks 3