Stanley Street 'C' Finish Season On A High

Stanley Street 'C' put behind them the disappointment of finishing Runners up in both Division Three and the Handicap Shield to win the MBE Handicap Trophy at the expense of their club colleagues Stanley Street Cypriots. In what was a fabulous advert for the Worksop League the match was played in a terrific spirit despite both sides desperate to win the Trophy. Due to the handicapping system The Cypriots started the match 64 points in front which reflected both teams respective league positions but their lead was cut to 44 as Stanley Street C's Andy Kirkland beat Graham Stent and Orestas Riauba beat Tom Parker. The Stanley Street 'C' team may have thought that the trend would continue but the next three matches left the 'C' team still 44 points ahead as Kirkland and Martynas Riauba drew with the Cypriot's doubles pairing of Parker and Adam Hamilton, Orestas Riauba then beat Hamilton by a single point before Stent returned the favour by defeating Martynas Riauba also by a single point.
Street 'C' then firmly put the accelerator down when the Riauba twins beat Stent and Parker by 17 points and Kirkland beat Hamilton by 15 points to reduce the deficit to only 12 points and in the second to last game of the night the 'C' team finally got their noses in front when Martynas Riauba beat Tom Parker 42-22 to lead by 8 points going in the last game of the night which happened to be a doubles match. Kirkland and Orestas Riauba were up against Hamilton and Stent with the Cypriots duo needing to win by 9 points to win outright and when they took the first set 21-13 the match was all square and the outcome hinged on the final set of the night with Kirkland and Riauba finally taking it 21-16 to cement overall victory by 412-407.
Back to league matters now and the last league game of the season was finally played between Ryton Park Adders and MBE, a match that if MBE won by a scoreline of at least 7-3 they would clinch the Runners Up spot in Division One. Their task was made that much easier as The Adders could only field two players in Andy Lee and Matthew Lemon but with neither of them able to muster up a win between them it left the MBE trio of Mark Stanfield, Craig Straw and Mick Bell with a comfortable night as all three remained undefeated. Stanfield and Bell sealed the 10-0 whitewash by winning the doubles against Lemon and Lee and with it the Division One Runners Up spot.