Falcons Swoop To Take Mike Tunningley Shield

Ryton Park Falcons are this seasons Mike Tunningley Shield winners after beating DTH Redlands Monsters in the final at Stanley Street Club. The Monsters who have this season won the Division Two title and have also reached the final of the Reg Wilcox Trophy were favourites going into the match with the Falcons who are a division below them but the Monsters knew they would have to amass a sizeable points difference over the Falcons before the envelope with the handicap points in it would be opened at the end of the match. The three Monsters Riauba brothers set about their task with Valentinas beating Lee Banton 21-7, 21-8 with his brother Orestas doing even better when he beat Mick Potter 21-7, 21-4 but then Jordan Potter managed to score valuable points against Martynas only losing 21-7, 21-9 which gave the Monsters a 64 point lead after only three games. Lee Banton then had a great game for the Falcons against Orestas losing 21-12, 21-8 to keep the points deficit and when Jordan Potter managed to score 18 points against Valentinas in which was a much closer game than the score suggested it meant that the Monsters were up against it. Martynas then gave Mick Potter a bit of a mauling as he won 21-2, 21-2 with Orestas beating Jordan Potter by 30 points overall and when Martynas beat Banton 21-6, 21-3 it looked as if the Monsters may just do enough to win. In the last match of the night Mick Potter lost to Valentinas but still managed to score some vital points for his Falcons team and the match result would all hinge on the size of the handicap awarded to the Falcons. The envelope was opened to reveal that 292 points had been awarded to the Falcons side and when added to the points the scored on the table it meant that they ran out winners by 29 points winning 407-378 which in the end was under 2 points per game.
Although the league fixtures had officially finished a lot of sides had games to catch up on their postponed games and none more so that DTH Redlands X-Youth in Division Two who still had a very slim chance of promotion to Division One but had to win all of their remaining games and win them convincingly. First up was their match against DTH Redlands Joggers who had been struggling to field a full complement of players in recent matches and this match would be no different as they turned up with only two players in Dennis Learad and Matthew Mudd so would start the match 3-0 down. 3-0 quickly became 4-0 as Jeff Reay beat Mudd and 4-0 soon turned into 5-0 as Mark Bloomer beat Learad in 5 sets and when Bloomer then beat Mudd the match was won for X-Youth and it was now all about how many they could win by to keep their slim hopes of promotion alive. Reay and Bloomer then took the doubles set to make it 7-0 but the doubles would be the last game that they would win on the night as Mudd and Learad both beat Clive Eden with Learad also adding a good win over Reay to leave the match score 7-3 in the X-Youth's favour.
The X-Youths next match would be on paper a much harder challenge as it was against the Division Two Champions DTH Redlands Monsters and a much harder challenge it proved to be as the Monsters ran out 8-2 winners distinguishing any faint hopes X-Youth had of sneaking the last promotion place. In fairness to the X-Youth side the match was a close affair as 5 of the games went to a deciding set and in fact only one game was actually won in straight sets. Of the three Riauba brothers Valentinas had the best night for the Monsters winning all his three games over Reay, Bloomer and Eden with Martynas an Orestas both adding two wins each with them both losing to Reay. Valentinas and Orestas teamed up to take the doubles over Bloomer and Eden to seal the win.
Elsewhere in Division Two, Manton Sports the division's 'nearly' team yet again lost by a small margin as they went down 6-4 to club colleagues Manton Tigers. Despite already being relegated the Sports side put up a spirited fight as James Weston, Keith Smith and Richard Robinson all beat the Tigers Steve Beeston and despite 6 of the matches going to 5 sets they couldn't quite turn them into wins. Smith and Weston added the doubles game but both Dave Bowns and Chris Mokes remained unbeaten for the Tigers to get them over the line in what was a very tight contest.
Division One Results: DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 7 Ryton Park Eagles 3,DTH Redlands Roosters 8 Manton Misfits 2
Division Three Results: DTH Redlands Liver Birds 5 Ryton Park Falcons 5, Stanley Street 'E' 1 On-Line Elks 9, DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 10 DTH Redlands Liver Birds 0