Stanley Street Make David Hooton Trophy Final

Stanley Street ‘A’ reached the final of the David Hooton Trophy with a victory against Clowne ‘A’ in the second of their Group B matches. The Stanley Street trio of Terry Emmerson, Peter Eyre and Alex Millward put in a real team effort to score 336 points on the table with special mention going to Emmerson who enjoyed a great win over this years Open Singles Champion John Davies. The Clowne ‘A’ side of Davies, Kartik Lakhani and James Wormwell battled hard to reach 324 points scored but when both teams handicap points were added it gave Stanley Street ‘A’ victory by 467 points to 452.
In the other group in Division One, Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ are the favourites to qualify as they currently sit top of Group ‘B’ with two wins from two games. Their latest win came against Worksop Miners Welfare who like the Snipers had also won their opening group and had high hopes of their own of making it through to the final for Division One sides but came up against a Snipers side full of determination and a side who knew that if they could keep chipping away and amass enough points on the table then their favourable handicap might just see them over the line. The Snipers also enjoyed some ‘mini’ victories in the match as Erlands Skels did well to take a game off Chris Cattell and then in one of the three doubles games Skels and Ben Swain took a game off Cattell and Richard Element. The Snipers third player Jim Westwood also contributed vital points to add to their total on the table of 216 and with handicap points of 259 to add to their total it gave them the win by 475 points to 464.
The other two sides in Group ‘B’ met this week with DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys just edging out Sparken Hill Starlings by just 7 points winning 468-461. The Toys team of Jeff Reay, Sarah Short and Peter Cowburn scored 372 points out of a possible 378 on the table which was a great effort and, in the end, proved the difference between the two sides. The Starlings scored 275 points themselves and with a handicap of 186 points to add it gave them a final total of 461 but with 96 to add to their total it was the Fluffy Toys who ran out winners.
In The Reg Wilcox Trophy for Division Two sides, Stanley Street ‘B’ look well placed to make the final as they have now won both of their opening Group ‘B’ games, their latest victory was a 441 to 430 against Worksop Welfare Cannon and are favourites to qualify from the group. The other match in the group saw a local derby between Manton Sports and their club colleagues Manton Tigers with the Tigers going home with the bragging rights after they won the match 503 points to 446 and it leaves both sides with one win each and will need the Sports side to beat Stanley Street side next week to give themselves any chance of qualifying.
In the other group Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ had to concede their match to Worksop Welfare Harriers due to injury plus player availability which left the only game played in the group between Sparken Hill Falcons and Carlton X-Youth which the X-Youth won to also make it two wins from two to leave themselves firm favourites to qualify for the final.
In the MBE Trophy which is for Division Three sides there were no games recorded in Group ‘A’ but both games in Group ‘B’ were played. DTH Redlands Rookies have all but qualified for the final after they beat DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 441-395 to top the group having won both of their matches so far. Sparken Hill Nightingales registered their first win in the competition after beating DTH Redlands Rovers by 538 points to 501 and must now rely on the Rovers side to beat the Rookies next week to stand any chance of making it through to the final.