Lyon Roars Into Over 50's And 60's Finals

Steve Lyon managed to safely negotiate his way into both the Over 50's and the Over 60's Singles finals without much resistance. Lyon who is no stranger to the competition held at Sparken Hill Academy having won both on several occasions over the last few years didn't drop a game all night comfortably beating his opponents in straight sets. In the Over 50's he beat Nick Sievewright 11-1, 11-6, 11-2 in the quarter finals and then did the same to Nigel Stent in the semi finals but the games were much closer with Lyon winning 11-9, 12-10, 13-11. In the Final he will meet Steve Fox who had a bye in the quarter finals before overcoming Malcolm Manuel by 3-1 in the semi finals
Because of the low number of entries the Over 60's competition started at the semi final stage with Lyon taking no time at all to dispatch Jack Tarr 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 to reach the final where he will be up against Mark Fisher who also had a fairly straightforward semi final match beating Nick Sievewright in straight sets.
Both finals will be played on the 2nd of the leagues Finals Nights on the 28th of March held at Stanley Street Club with spectators being more than welcome to attend.
This week was also set aside for the Divisional Cups which had all reached the semi final stage. In the David Hooton Trophy which is for Division One teams both semi finals on paper looked like they would be tight affairs which they turned out to be on the table. Manton Nomads were at home to DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys and had a start of 56 points thanks to the handicapping system and actually increased their lead in the first two games as Chris Cattell beat Steve Johnson 40-33 and Sarah Short defeated Anthony Farrell 42-27 but the Toys slowly but surely started to eat into the deficit winning the next 4 games on the trot before Chris Cattell stopped the rot with a superb 40-39 point win over Paul Johnson but when Vaughan lost 42-17 to Farrell it meant the Nomads had to win the doubles by enough points to clinch the match but even though Cattell and Short beat the Johnson brothers 41-37 it wasn't quite enough with the Toys going through to the final with a 7 point difference winning 434-427.
The second semi final was even closer as DTH Redlands Monsters and Stanley Street 'A' fought out a terrific battle which ebbed and flowed one way and then the other all night. The Monsters started with just a 6 point lead which in the end proved not to be enough. For the Street side both Jack Kirkland and Peter Eyre performed well in their singles games with Kirkland winning both his two matches with Eyre adding a win and a loss by just one point which added vital points for their side. Alex Millward added 57 points from his two singles games but made an even bigger contribution in the two doubles games none more so than in the last doubles games of the night as he and Kirkland beat Orestas and Valentinas Riauba 38-34 which in the end made all the difference as Stanley Street 'A' won by just 5 points going through 506 points to 501.
In the Reg Wilcox Trophy for Division Two sides two mid table sides met in another close encounter as Manton Tigers entertained Worksop Welfare Snipers 'B'. The Snipers started just 10 points in front but soon saw their small lead disappear as Ron Firth beat Ben Swain and Bill Bateman beat Chris Tilstone and when the first doubles game of the night also went the Tigers way the Snipers were 32 points behind! They hit back winning the next three games as Mark Sansom beat Bateman,  Swain defeated Steve Beeston and Swain and Tilstone won the 2nd doubles of the night to put them back in front by 21 points. In the next singles Firth beat Sansom by 4 points but Tilstone then beat Beeston with Swain and Sansom winning the last doubles of the night to secure the win by 20 points, 473-453.
In the Division Three semi finals (MBE Trophy) one semi final never even got off the ground as Worksop Owls conceded their match against Worksop Welfare Cypriots. In the semi final that did get played DTH Redlands Tarr Babies had a comfortable win over Worksop Welfare Cypriots 'B'. The young side of Adam Pinches, Roman Rosser and Ted Rizzo had a lead of 67 points to defend against the Cypriots which they did successfully, only dropping 11 points all night which all meant that they ran out winners by 56 points and try as hard as they did, the Cypriots team of Dean Marsh, Dan Saul and Nick Sievewright couldn't claw back the deficit.