Elks Just Do Enough To Progress In Mike Tunningley Shield

On-Line Elks upset the odds this week as the first round of The Mike Tunningley Shield took centre stage with a break from the usual league fixtures. The Elks from Division Three were away at Division Two side Stanley Street 'C' who had been showing some fine form in their league campaign and perhaps on paper were expected to progress into the next round but the Elks trio of Glen Gillgrass, Jonno Blood and Jerry Collis had other ideas. The defining moments in the match were when Jonno Blood beat Martynas Riauba 21-19 and 21-20 and when Glen Gillgrass also took a game off of  Martynas 21-14 which not only gave the Elks a few vital points more than their opponents but also stopped them building up enough of a points cushion before the handicap was added at the end. The other Riauba brothers Valentinas and Orestas won all their games in straight sets to give Street 'C' an 368-198 points advantage but it wasn't quite enough as The Elks had been awarded 180 handicap points which meant that they ran out winners by just 10 points winning 378-368.
Another side who progressed against a team in a higher division than themselves were Ryton Park Dragons who produced a great performance by defeating Manton Misfits who are two divisions above them. Despite losing all their games in straight sets the Dragons Luke Barraclough, Justin Flear and Connor Bettley battled away all night knowing that if they could amass enough points in defeat then the handicap points awarded the might just be enough to get them through and het them through it did. The Misfits team of Kartik Lakhani, Ian Henderson and Malcolm Manuel scored the maximum points that can be possibly won of 378 with the Dragons achieving a total 117 and after their handicap of 288 was added the Dragons eventually won by the score line of 405-378 to make it through to the next round.
Another Third Division side that were successful against a Division One side were DTH Redlands Tarr Babies who had a terrific win over Manton Tigers by 395-368. If the Tigers, who are struggling at the wrong end of Division One thought they were going to get some respite from their losing streak in the league then they were sadly mistaken as The Tarr Babies put in a great performance to make it through to the next round. The Tigers Dave Bowns and Paul Allison both won all their games in straight sets and special mention must go to Allison who only dropped 34 points all night which is a fabulous effort but with the Tarr Babies Antony Coupe, Greg Suchalski and Josh Nelson taking sets and scoring vital points against the Tigers Steve Beeston it was enough to make all the difference to winning and losing with The Tarr Babies deservedly going through to the second round.
The Tarr Babies club colleagues DTH Redlands Rookies were also in first round action but couldn't match the Tarr Babies result against Ryton Park Falcons who are in the division below them. The Rookies nearly managed to achieve the maximum score possible as they notched up 376 points against their opponents but with Jak Eden, Brian Hall and Jordan Potter all making significant contributions to the Falcons points total of 228 it wasn't enough when the handicap of 205 was also added to the Falcons points total giving them an eventual points total of 433 against The rookies 376.
Other Mike Tunningley Shield Results - Stanley Street 'D' 344 Stanley Street 'E' 405, MBE 371 Manton Sports 478
Division One Result - Manton Tigers 0 MBE 10
Division Three Result - Ryton Park Falcons 3 Ryton Park Dragons 7