Rovers And Nightingales Make Mike Tunningley Shield Final

DTH Redlands Rovers and Sparken Hill Nightingales both came through their respective semi-finals to get through to the final of The Mike Tunningley Handicap Shield. DTH Redlands of Division Three played well to overcome the current Division Two leaders Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ in their semi-final match with Roman Rosser, Keith Bloomfield and Adam Pinches all contributing to their teams points total with Pinches having a particularly good night as he ended up being level on 40 points each with Paul Linfield over the two games played. For the Snipers both George Makrakis and Mitchell Radford won all of their games which helped the Snipers to get to 376 points won on the table to the Rovers 221 and the outcome of the match would ultimately come down to the number of handicap points given to DTH Redlands Rovers and when the sealed envelope was opened it revealed that 175 points had been awarded to the Rovers which when added to their points won on the table gave them victory by 396 points to 376 points.
In the other semi-final two Sparken Hill sides in the Hawks and the Nightingales battled it out to earn the right to appear in the final. The Hawks knew that the Nightingales would be awarded handicap points because of their respective positions in the Division Three table and Lewis Linacre of the Hawks set about giving away as few points as possible and scored the maximum 126 points against Mark Fisher, Isabell Saul and Charlie Shephard whilst only conceding 48. Paul Wendon also had a good night as he scored 112 beating Saul and Shephard in the process but losing to Mark Fisher. Tom Wendon also defeated Saul but lost by a single point to Shephard and like his Dad lost to Fisher which all added up to 334 points for the Hawks whilst the Nightingales scored 222. When the handicap envelope was opened it gave the Nightingales 155 points to add to their 222 points accrued on the table to give them victory by 377 points to 334.
The Carnation Cup which had reached the quarter-final stage was also being played this week with all four quarter-finals being close entertaining games. The Pairs competition is handicapped with the highest ranked player who entered playing with the lowest ranked player, the second ranked player playing with the second lowest ranked player and so on. All the quarter-finals were played on the same evening at Sparken Hill School and the first match to finish saw Andy Kirkland and Ivan Stallworthy beat Rob Vaughan and Ethan Shevill with Kirkland defeating Vaughan in the deciding game to win 3-2 and send himself and his partner through to the semi-finals. Ethen Shevill played well in beating both Kirkland and Stallworthy, but Vaughan couldn’t match his partners wins and they went out of the competition.
The next match to finish was between Simon Hooley and Harry Clarke and Jeff Reay and Tom Ogley and again went right down to the last game of the night before being decided. Hooley defeated Ogley in the first singles game and Clarke followed it up by beating Reay to give them a 2-0 lead and at that stage they looked like they were going to have a comfortable night but then Reay and Ogley won the doubles and then Ogley beat Clarke to level the contest at 2-2. So, it came down to the last singles match of the night between Hooley and Reay which Hooley won in straight sets to take himself and Ogley through.
The third quarter-final also finished 3-2 but didn’t go to a deciding set as Luke Barraclough and Lewis Linacre were 3-1 up before the last game was played against Mark Cooper and Derek Piper. Linacre beat Cooper in the first singles before Piper levelled matters when he beat Barraclough in the next singles, but Linacre and Barraclough got their noses in front again when they won the doubles. The next singles game was won by Linacre when he beat Piper and the contest was effectively over as Linacre and Barraclough had an unassailable 3-1 lead and personal pride was the only thing on the line in the last singles match which Cooper won by beating Barraclough 2-0.
The last quarter-final saw Neil Fisher and Nick Sievewright play well to beat Perry Bradford and Dave Rix 4-1 although the match was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests. Fisher beat Rix to take the first singles before Bradford levelled things at 1-1 by beating Sievewright. Fisher and Sievewright then took the doubles to go 2-1 in front and then Sievewright beat Rix to give them a 3-1 lead. Fisher then put the icing on the cake for himself and Sievewright by coming from 1-0 down against Bradford to win 2-1 to seal a 4-1 victor for himself and his partner.
The semi-final draw is as follows: Neil Fisher & Nick Sievewright v Simon Hooley & Harry Clarke, Andy Kirkland & Ivan Stallworthy v Luke Barraclough & Lewis Linacre. Date to be decided.