Fantastic Five For Fluffy Toys

DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys have won the Division One title for the fifth year in succession. Toys who have now won 11 out of 11 league games so far this season retained their title with four games to spare with a 7-3 win at MBE, however their opponents didn't let them have things all their own way. MBE's Mark Stanfield was in red hot form as he dispatched both Tom Wesley and Peter Cowburn in straight sets before coming from 2-1 down to beat the previously unbeaten Richard Wesley 11-7 in the 5th and deciding set. Stanfield's heroics could not be matched by his teammates Dave Marsh and Andrew Cave who lost to all three Fluffy Toys players with the Wesley siblings also winning the doubles against Marsh and Stanfield to cement victory and yet another league title.
MBE didn't have to wait too long for a chance of revenge over The Fluffy Toys as both sides met a few days later in the semi final of the David Hooton Handicap Trophy but with slightly different line ups from the league match. For the Toys Steve Walker came in for Tom Wesley with MBE replacing Cave and Stanfield with Mick Bell and Craig Straw which for MBE turned out to be good team selection. Despite the Toys actually amassing 358 points on the table to MBE's 271 it turned out not to be enough as MBE had a 160 handicap points to add at the end and with Toys only having 35 it all meant that MBE gained revenge on their opponents  winning 431-393 and going through to the final.
The second semi final was between DTH Redlands Roosters and Ryton Park Adders with both sides having a break from trying to stave off relegation to try and enjoy a decent cup run. For The Roosters Tom McIntosh continued his good run of form with straight sets wins over both Andy Lee and Matthew Lemon and he was well backed up by both Rick Harris and Steve Johnson who also contributed valuable points to their sides total with aggregate wins over Brian Allen. On the table it was the Roosters who finished the night in front by 348 points to 304 and as both sides handicaps reflected their close proximity in the league the Adders were never going to have enough points to claw back the difference and in fact had to give the Roosters another 6 points via the handicap eventually losing 448-400.
It was also semi final stage of the Reg Wilcox Handicap Trophy and first up was the tie between two DTH Redlands sides, The Joggers and X-Youth with not only a place in the final at stake but also club bragging rights! Both sides were evenly matched throughout and only separated by 37 points before the handicap scores were added at the end with perhaps the crucial difference being the form of the Joggers Lea Dickinson who returned maximum points and was well backed up by Matthew Mudd and Lewis Comley. Once the handicap points had been added at the end the Joggers finally ran out winners by 502 points to 471.
In the second semi final a tight affair looked on the cards between Ryton Park Eagles and Division Two leaders Stanley Street 'B' but after 3 of the scheduled 9 games it was clear that there was no point in continuing as the Eagles could only field 2 players and therefore wouldn't get anywhere near the Street's score and decided to concede the match to Stanley Street 'B' who's dream of a league and cup double still goes on.
Division Three Result: Stanley Street Cypriots 6 Ryton Park Falcons 4