Divisional Cup Finals Are All Tight Affairs

The curtain came down on the 2015/16 season this week with the finals of the Divisional Handicap Trophy Finals all being played on the same night at Worksop Leisure Centre.
This year's David Hooton Trophy Final for first division teams was played out between Stanley Street 'A' and Ryton Park Eagles with the Street side looking to retain the trophy they won last year. When the handicap points for each player were totalled up it was the Eagles who held an advantage or 45 points before a ball was struck but that lead was to be wiped out after first three games when Peter Eyre beat John Hallgarth, Dave Hodgson beat Keith Swift and then Eyre and Matthew Williams defeated Swift and Brian Allen in the first of the three doubles games. To the Eagles credit they hit back straight away with Allen beating Hodgson and Hallgarth beating Williams to leave the match in the balance but any thoughts the Eagles had of snatching victory were dispelled in the last three games of the night as the Street side turned the screw with Eyre and Williams both winning their games over Allen and Swift respectively with Eyre and Hodgson winning the last game of the night against Hallgarth and Allen in the doubles to make sure that Stanley Street 'A' winners by 571points to 541.
DTH Redlands Monsters were looking to do the league and cup double in the final for Division Two sides the Reg Wilcox Trophy. The Monsters were up against club colleagues DTH Redlands Joggers who started the match 65 points in front after the handicaps were added which meant that the Monsters would have to be on their game to claw the deficit back. The three Riauba brothers set about the task of chasing down the Joggers with some determination and after Orestas had beaten Lewis Comley, Valentinas had beaten Matthew Mudd and Orestas and Martynas had defeated Mudd and Kyle McIntosh in the doubles they had reduced the arrears to just 22 points overall. Valentinas then just beat McIntosh in a close contest and when Martynas beat Comley by 17 points it meant the match was all square and the Monsters finally went ahead when Martynas and Valentinas beat Comley and Mudd convincingly in the doubles to leave the Joggers with a mountain to climb if they were going to win the trophy. McIntosh gave the some hope when he beat Orestas by a single point but the last two games of the night went the way of the Monsters to ensure they ran out winners by 426 points to 397 to give them the double and to cap a fabulous season for the Monsters.
In the final of the MBE Trophy for third division sides Ryton Park Falcons were looking to complete a double of their own but theirs was a cup double after winning the Mike Tunningley Shield the week before. The Falcons were up against DTH Redlands Rookies who had romped to the Division Three title and who themselves were looking to emulate the Monsters by achieving a league and cup double. The Rookies were awarded just 20 handicap points which was a reflection of their dominance in division three this season with the Falcons having 207 which meant if the Rookies were going to win the MBE Trophy they would have to do it the hard way. Any thoughts that the Rookies would rapidly eat into the deficit were soon dispelled as Justin Flear for the Falcons only lost by 10 points to Chris Cutts with Lee Banton doing even better narrowly losing to Chris Clemson by just 6 points and these two close games were to prove crucial for the Falcons at the end of the night as the Rookies won the next 7 games by some distance. Firstly Clemson and Dilip Malkan took 18 points out of Flear and Mick Potter and when Malkan beat Banton by 25 points it was game on! Cutts then beat a spirited Potter with Cutts and Clemson beating Potter and Banton by 22 points in the second doubles game. Malkan then gave Flear a real hammering winning by 29 points but to stand any chance of catching the Falcons then Clemson had to do the same to Potter but he couldn't and only clawed back 13 points which meant that even before the last game of the night the Rookies couldn't catch the Falcons and despite the Falcons losing by 24 points they still won the match by 420 points to 398.
Division Two Result: DTH Redlands X-Youth 6 Manton Tigers 4