Hawks Swoop To Clinch Cup Double

Sparken Hill Hawks enjoyed more cup success this week by beating DTH Redlands Demolition Men to add the Mike Tunningley Handicap Shield to the MBE Handicap Trophy they won two weeks ago.
In a close game on the table, the Hawks trio of Paul Wendon, Tom Wendon and Scott Lee triumphed against their opponents despite finishing 17 points behind them in the Division Three table. The Demolition Men knew before the game started that they would have to give away a number of points to the Hawks via the handicapping system so knew that they would have to amass enough points on the table to cover the deficit.
The night started well for the Demolition Men as Perry Bradford got their task underway by beating Paul Wendon by 14 points and when Derek Piper beat Tom Wendon by 13 points it put the Demolition Men 27 points ahead and they clearly had the momentum with them. Ethan Shevill added another 3 points to their lead when he just edged out Scott Lee. Perry Bradford again did the business as he defeated Tom Wendon 21-10, 21-9 to give his team an overall lead of 53 and knowing that if they kept this up they would more than likely win the match but all that changed in the fifth game of the night as Paul Wendon pulled out all the stops to beat Shevill 21-4, 21-7 to cut the deficit significantly and to leave the Hawks to just 22. Scott Lee then played a terrific first set against Piper to only lose against his much more experienced opponent 21-17 but Piper did try to make up for it by winning the next 21-9 to increase the Demolition Mens lead to 38 points.
Tom Wendon then went and repeated his Dad’s feat by beating Shevill by 23 points to leave the match finely poised with the Demolition Men just 15 points ahead of the Hawks and with probably too much to do to win the match.
Despite the tough ask Perry Bradford once again got stuck in and beat Scott Lee 21-8, 21-8 to give his side a 41 point lead and to leave Piper needing to beat Paul Wendon in the last game of the night by some way to give them any real chance of victory but it all blew up in their face when Paul Wendon played superbly to give Piper a real thumping in the first game winning it 21-8 and despite Piper winning the second game 21-17 the damage had already been done and the Demolition Men only won the match on the table by 32 points.
The sealed envelope that had the handicap points inside it was then opened to reveal that Sparken Hill Hawks had been awarded 90 handicap points to add to their total points won on the table giving the Hawks victory by 369 points to 311.