On-line Elks Up For The Cup

There was a break from the usual promotion and relegation battles of the League this week as the Divisional Handicap cup competitions took centre stage with On-Line Elks hitting top form in the MBE Trophy for 3rd Division teams. The Elks team of Jonno Blood, Glenn Gillgrass and Jerry Collins were up against Ryton Park Falcons who despite being bottom of the division put up a terrific fight. The Elks had to give the Falcons a 33 point start after the handicaps were worked out and they soon set about reducing the deficit as Blood beat Jak Eden by 22 points and when Gillgrass beat Mick Potter by 20 points the deficit had been wiped out after only two of the 9 matches and the Elks were ahead by 9 points. Blood and Collins then beat Mick and Jordan Potter in one of the doubles sets by 10 points and when Gillgrass beat Jordan Potter the writing was on the wall fir the Falcons. Although the Falcons were heading for defeat they never gave up in and they did produce a mini fight back when both Jak Eden and Mick Potter defeated Collins but it wasn't enough to stop the Falcons slipping to a 534-493 point defeat.
Other MBE Trophy Results: Stanley Street Rascals 473 Ryton Park Dragons 464, Stanley Street Cypriots 411 Stanley Street 395, DTH Redlands Tarr Babies beat Stanley Street 'E' (Match Conceded).
In the Division Two cup competition - the Reg Wilcox Trophy, Stanley Street 'B' welcomed back Nigel Stent who put in a captains performance to lead his team to a narrow win over Ryton Park Cougars. Due to the handicapping system the Cougars started 190 points ahead and Stent soon set about reducing the deficit as he won both his singles matches against Dave Rix and Ivan Stallworthy by 26 and 30 points respectively and then helped to reduce it even further when he teamed up to play in his two doubles sets with Adam Hamilton and Ralph Rodda which combined reduced the arrears by another 38 points. Not to be overshadowed by Stents performance Hamilton beat both Stallworthy and Dave Lee and Rodda defeated Rix and Lee and then teamed up in the doubles to beat Rix and Lee to overhaul the Cougars points total to make it through to the next round by 26 points winning 459-433.
Other Reg Wilcox Trophy Results: DTH Redlands X-Youth 445 Manton Sports 483, Ryton Park Eagles 410 Stanley Street 'C' 471, Manton Nomads v DTH Redlands Rookies Postponed.
There were some great matches in the David Hooton Trophy for Division One sides and none more so than the game between Manton Misfits and DTH Redlands Joggers which went right down to the wire. The Joggers started the match 77 points in front but the Misfits soon wiped that out as Kalpesh Bhatt beat Lewis Comley, Ian Henderson beat Matthew Mudd, Bhatt & Kerry Harvey defeated Mudd & Lea Dickinson in the doubles and Henderson beat Dickinson which put the Misfits in front. The Joggers hit back with wins for Dickinson over Bhatt and Mudd over Harvey which left the match delicately poised with the Misfits ahead by only 7 points going into the final match of the night which was a doubles match up between Bhatt & Henderson and Dickinson & Comley. The Misfits duo took the first game 21-12 to seemingly put them 16 points in front and despite Dickinson & Comley winning the next game 21-16 it wasn't enough to stop the Misfits making it into the semi-finals 491-480.
Other David Hooton Trophy Results: DTH Redlands Roosters 387 MBE 470, Ryton Park Adders 431 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 371