Tears Of A Clowne As ‘B’ Loses To ‘C’ In Cup

Clowne ‘C upset the odds this week as they dumped their club colleagues out of the Mike Tunningley Handicap Shield. Clowne ‘B who are a division above the counterparts were looking to progress to the semi-final stage but came unstuck against a stubborn Clowne ‘C side who in particular had Ian Henderson in a rich vein of form. Henderson first defeated Jeff Reay 21-15, 21-14 before just losing out to Simon Chatterton 20-21, 15-21 in his next game. In his final game Henderson made it even more uncomfortable for his opponent Kartik Lakhani as he took him even closer before just losing out 18-21, 18-21. Henderson was well supported by Steve Elkin who lost to Chatterton 17-21, 15-21 before dropping more points than he would have liked to Lakhani losing 14-21, 10-21. Elkin then got back on track and fought hard against Reay before just losing out 19-21, 19-21. Clowne ‘C’s third player Ben Crapper also added vital points to his sides total taking a game off of Reay 21-13 which made a vital contribution to the C sides total. On the table the B team scored 357 points to the C teams 280 but when the sealed envelope containing the handicap points was opened it revealed that the C team had ben awarded 116 points which sent them into the semi-finals with a final match score of 396 points to 357.
Another side that upset the odd this week were Sparken Hill Nightingales who might not have beaten a side from a division higher but nonetheless still pulled off a terrific victory. The Nightingales were up against Sparken Hill Hawks who currently sit 2^nd in the Division Three table, a massive 21 points better off than the Nightingales. All three Nightingales had some real successes against their more illustrious opponents with Harrison Holland taking a game off of Lewis Linacre 21-20, Charlie Shepherd taking a game off of Pau Wendon 21-16 before taking another off of Adam Pinches 21-20! Mark Fisher also got in on the act as he took a game off of Wendon 21-20 and one off of Pinches by the same scoreline which meant that all these games won plus all of their other points gained game them a very respectable 286 points earned on the table against the Hawk’s total of 369 and when the handicap points were revealed, it awarded the Nightingales another 110 points which gave them victory by 396 points to 369.
The closest Handicap Shield match this week was between two sides that ply their trade in Division Two with only 10 points separating them at the end of the match. The Manton Sports tam of John Lowde, Richard Robinson and Keith Smith played hosts to Carlton X-Youth who had Mark Cooper, Simon Hooley and Mark Bloomer in their ranks and there were some really close games throughout, none more so than the games involving Robinson with a 21-15, 20-21 aggregate win over Cooper, a 21-20, 10-21 loss against Hooley and then just edging out Bloomer 21-19, 20-21!.
Lowde also had some success for the Sports team as he took a game off of Cooper 21-20 and also a game off of Bloomer 21-17 with Sports third player Smith also adding vital points to his team’s cause pushing the X-Youth trio close. Manton Sports scores 279 points on the table with X-Youth amassing 364 with Sports having an extra 75 handicap points to add to their total but it wasn’t enough as they narrowly lost by 364 points to 354 which in the end was great handicapping.