The Great Escape!

In their final Division Two league match of the 2018/19 season Worksop Welfare Cannon managed to haul themselves out of the bottom two places and escape from the relegation trap door into Division Three. Welfare Cannon had been in the bottom two places since losing to Manton Tigers way back on the 11^th of October of last year, but they never gave up hope of escaping and went into their match away at Carlton X-Youth knowing a win could see them survive depending on other results around them. The Cannon side soon set about their opponents with Kay Wilson beating Andrew Dolby in the deciding fifth game and when Perry Bradford did the same against Mark Bloomer it gave them a 2-0 lead. 2-0 soon turned into 3-0 when Dilip Malkan beat Mark Cooper and when Wilson beat Bloomer to put the Cannon side 4-0 ahead they were on the brink of victory. Malkan defeated Dolby in straight sets to make it 5-0 and to secure them at least a point but they knew that wouldn’t be enough to get them to safety, so it was down to Bradford in the next game to see if he could give his side an unassailable 6-0 lead. Bradford took the first game against Cooper 11-6, but Cooper was soon on level terms as he took the second game 11-7. Cooper then got his nose in front as he took the next game 11-5 but Bradford got back on level terms by taking the fourth and secured all three points for his side by taking the 5^th and deciding game again 11-7. Even though Welfare Cannon had won the match there was to be no let up as Wilson and Bradford defeated Cooper and Dolby in the doubles to go 7-0 ahead. Bloomer saved his side from a complete whitewash by beating Malkan in straight sets in the eight match of the night but that was to be the X-Youth’s only joy as both Wilson and Bradford completed their hat-tricks with wins over Cooper and Dolby respectively to secure a 9-1 victory.
Survival for the Welfare Cannon side wasn’t guaranteed with their win over Carlton X-Youth and they were relying on their club colleagues who were rooted to the bottom of the table to do them a huge favour in their match against Sparken Hill Falcons who were one place above and three points better off than the Cannon side. Hat-tricks for Dennis Learad and Andy Vinson for the Harriers over the Falcons trio of Mick Potter, Luke Barraclough and Neil Penny ensured that they defeated the Falcons and with two wins for Dean Marsh over Potter and Barraclough and the doubles it secured a 9-1 win for the Harriers. The win for the Harriers allowed Welfare Cannon to survive and saved the Harriers from finishing bottom of Division Two as they and the Cannon side leapfrogged the Falcons leaving them bottom.
Other Division Two Result: Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘B’ 9 Manton Sports 1
It was a week of teams avoiding the drop as Division One side Sparken Hill Starlings finally put their relegation fears to bed with the narrowest of 6-4 wins away at bottom side Clowne ‘B’ despite a fine Joe Zygadlo hat-trick for Clowne ‘B’. James Weston added a single win for Clowne ‘B’ when he beat Ivan Guilliatt, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Starlings from completing the double over them. Andy Lee and Helmuth Osborne both returned two wins each over Weston and Ben Crapper with Guilliatt also beating Crapper and when the Starlings pairing of Lee and Osborne took the doubles against Weston and Zygadlo it added up to 3 points for the Starlings and another season in Division One to look forward to.
Other Division One Results: Worksop Miners Welfare 10 Clowne ‘A’ 0, DTH Redlands Monsters 9 Worksop Welfare Snipers ‘A’ 1, Stanley Street ‘A’ 5 DTH Redlands Fluffy Toys 5, Worksop Miners Welfare 5 DTH Redlands Roosters 5.
Division Three side Sparken Hill Hawks had already secured second place and the second promotion spot before their match with third placed Sparken Hill Blue Jays so didn’t field their strongest side and it showed as they slipped to a 9-1 defeat with only Paul Wendon getting his name on the scoresheet when he recorded a win over Dave Lee. For the Blue Jays, both Ivan Stallworthy and Kathy McIntyre registered hat-tricks in the singles with wins over Paul Wendon, Tom Wendon and Scott Lee. McIntyre then teamed up with Dave Rix in the doubles to beat Lee and Paul Wendon. Bragging rights in the Lee family went Dave Lee as he beat his grandson Scott 11-5 in the deciding set. Dave Lee also enjoyed victory over Tom Wendon to complete the scoring.
Division Three Results: DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 5 DTH Redlands Rovers 5, DTH Redlands Tarr Babies 9 DTH Redlands Mean Machine 1.