Tarr Babies Upset Adders In Mike Tunningley Shield

Third Division side DTH Redlands Tarr Babies supplied the upset of the week in the first round of the Mike Tunningley Handicap Shield with a 41 point win over Division One side Ryton Park Eagles. Although the Eagles are languishing at the bottom of Division One they were still firm favourites to beat their opponents but if they thought the Mike Tunningley Shield would offer them some respite from their fight to stay up then they were sadly mistaken. For the Adders both Harry Tomlinson and Andy Lee scored the maximum 126 points each with James Wormwell adding a further 122 points losing out to Jack Tarr 40-38 and with both Adam Pinches and Bob Hamilton-McGee adding vital points to keep the margin to 229 to the Adders. It was then left down to the opening of the sealed envelope to reveal the amount of handicap points that had been awarded to the Tarr Babies and once opened the Tarr Babies had been awarded 270 points which when added to their 145 points they had scored on the night gave them a 415 to 374 point win and passage into the next round.
Another side to taste victory over more illustrious opponents were DTH Redlands X-Youth who knocked out the current Division One leaders DTH Redlands Roosters in the closest match of the first round so far. The X-Youth trio of Clive Eden, Mark Bloomer and Jeff Reay may have only won one of the 19 sets to be played on the night when Bloomer took a set off of Rick Harris but they amassed 202 points on the table against Harris, Tom McIntosh and Steve Fox whilst conceding 373 which was a fabulous effort and when added to their handicap points of 180 gave them the narrowest of victories by 382 points to 373.
Another close tie was the match between Stanley Street 'E' from Division Three and Division Two leaders DTH Redlands Monsters. The Monsters usual trio of the Riauba brothers Orestas, Valentinas and Martynas were up against Jasper Turner, Finlay Coburn and Tai Chen and despite being a division below their opponents the Street team can be proud of their efforts as they gave it a real go and were unlucky to be on the end of a 17 point defeat losing 378 points to 361.
Division Two side Manton Sports had a more comfortable time than the previous teams that had managed to get through their first round matches as they put in a real team performance against Division One side Ryton Park Eagles. All three of the Sports players added a vital contribution of points with Richard Robinson scoring 94, James Weston scoring 90 and Keith Smith adding 77 to give the Sports outfit a total of 261 points which was exactly 100 less than the Eagles trio of Helmuth Osborne, John Hallgarth and Alex Olliffe registered but with a 144 point handicap awarded to the Sports side it meant they ran out winners by 405 points to 361.
Division Three Result: DTH Redlands Rookies 10 DTH Redlands Liver Birds 0