Match Reports

Sparken Hill Falcons who are the current holders of the Mike Tunningley Handicap Shield made it through to the quarter finals after yet another close match with Sparken Hill Blue Jays. After the original second round match ended all square the replay looked as if it could go the same way as the same three players for each side had to play in the replay with the same handicap points of 72 being allocated to the Falcons. The Blue Jays set about reducing the deficit and started to chip away as Ivan Stallworthy beat Mick Potter and Connor Bettley beat Luke Barraclough to reduce the deficit to 62 points, but Jordan Potter then beat Dave Rix to put the Falcons 70 points back in front. The up and down scenario continued throughout the match with the Falcons managing to stay in front and by the last game of the night…full report »

After the Christmas break the league soon got back into action with the next round of league games coming thick and fast after the New Year. Four teams are in with a realistic chance of winning the Division Two title and with Sparken Hill Vultures who currently lead the division having a blank week it gave the chasing pack a chance to close the gap on them. Stanley Street ‘B’ drew level on points with the Vultures without actually hitting a ball as their opponents DTH Redlands Rookies mysteriously failed to appear for the match so it was subsequently awarded to the Stanley Street side. On the table both Worksop Welfare Snipers and Manton Sports recorded wins to both move to within 2 points of the leaders, although Manton Sports have played a game more. The Snipers had a solid win away at Manton Tigers with Pete Hodgson being the…full report »

For only the second time in the history of the Mike Tunningley Handicap Shield a match finished in a draw. Sparken Hill Falcons and Sparken Hill Blue Jays couldn’t be separated and will now have to replay the match using the same players on each side. Although the Falcons and Blue Jays are a division apart, there isn’t that much of a gulf in standard which meant that a tight match was anticipated, and the two teams didn’t disappoint. Connor Bettley put in a good performance for the Blue Jays as he beat all three Falcons players in Jordan Potter, Mick Potter and Luke Barraclough ensuring he returned the maximum points possible of 126 whilst only dropping 80 points in the process. Bettley was well supported by Ivan Stallworthy who despite dropping points to Jordan Potter still managed a healthy return defeating Mick Potter and Luke Barraclough whilst Dave Rix…full report »

The last time Sparken Hill Ospreys won a league game was way back in September in the first week of the season against DTH Redlands X-Youth. The win took them to the top of the Division One table but after seven straight defeats it’s been a slow slide down the table which has seen them stuck in the relegation places ever since. Their latest victory again came against DTH Redlands X-Youth in the reverse fixture and again it was by the same 8-2 score line. For the Ospreys both Kerry Harvey and Simon Chatterton were in fine form with both players winning all their three singles games against the X-Youth trio of Keiran Tutter, Jeff Reay and Mark Bloomer. The X-Youth did have some success in the singles matches with Tutter and Bloomer both beating Bill Ainsworth, but Reay couldn’t do the same losing in 5 sets to the Ospreys…full report »

On a great night of table tennis at Sparken Hill Academy, Mick Potter and Mark Sansom battled their way to be crowned this year’s winners of the DTH Senior Doubles. 22 players entered this year’s competition and were seeded 1 to 22 with player 1 playing with player 22, player 2 playing with player 21 and so on. The doubles pairings were then split into 2 groups of 5 and 6 pairs respectively with the top 2 pairings in each group going through to the semi-finals. Group A was a very tight group and went right down to the wire with 4 of the 6 pairings still being in with a chance of going through to the semi-finals when the last group games were being played. In the end Potter and Sansom won the group with 148 points with Kartik Lakhani and Dave Lyus also on 148 points going through…full report »