Cup finals have been the order of the day for the Sheldon and District Winter League. First the Punchbowl which in the semis saw Saltley Gardeners and Shirley RBL record 5-4 wins in turn over Brook Meadow and Pavilions. The final result of 6-3 went in favour of premier champions Saltley. The Sheldon Shield was won by Olton RBL who got the 5-2 verdict against Shard End Social in the final. Losing semi finalists were Shard End RBL ’B’ and Lea Hall Sports and Social.
Saltley Gardeners were in the silverware again in the Vice Presidents Trophy, Tom White the eventual winner in the round robin competition. The Jubilee Trophy was restricted to secretaries, committee members and officials. Olton RBL player Andy Hutchings was in fine form throughout the event. From the last sixteen down to the final he won all of his matches with straight 2-0 results. However, in the final he was beaten 2-0 by Shirley RBL representative Ken Hopton who had dropped just one leg up to the final and that was in the last sixteen game against Alan Mayell (Shard End RBL ’B’). Going out in the last four were Dave Brown (Custard House) and David Sutton (Match Secretary).
———————————-
The Raven, Hodge Hill was the setting for the Dougie Bowen Memorial Trophy for which there was an excellent turnout of 50 players. Taking the title was Pete (The Post) Gould who had a 3-0 win over Alan (The Ace) Blythe in the final.
In addition to the main event there was also a junior competition which was won by Corey Taylor with Rhees Hunt the runner up.
The organisers would like to thank everyone involved, players and officials in the two knockouts which raised a tremendous £306.35 which will go to Cancer Research.
———————————-
Still on the theme of knockouts, the Small Heath League have been engaged with their Singles and Doubles competitions. Both competitions were staged at the Victoria Club and in the final of the singles it was Emerald Club man Neil Parsonage who clinched the title with his win over John McCaffrey from Potcheen Still. McCaffrey hit two maximums during the course of the evening.
Parsonage went close to making it a double when in the doubles final, he and his partner Daniel Dodd just lost out to Darren Brown and Kevin Moloney from the Custard House.
———————————-
Wigginton lost ground in the title race in division two of the Pip Club League when they went down 6-2 at the Three Horse Shoes. They remain in second place behind Winning Post, who won 6-2 against third in the table Kettlebrook Club, but are now four points adrift and have played one more fixture than the leaders. Kettlebrook are on the same six points as Wigginton with a game in hand.
No change in division one as the top three teams, Globe, Belgrave Club and Glascote Cluball won. A 5-3 win at Wiggy 180 keeps Globe in pole position on 10 points, Belgrave who beat the Bull 5-3 are also on 10 points with an inferior average and third placed Glascote had an emphatic 7-1 victory at the Dolphin and are just one point off the leading duo.
———————————-
Week nine fixtures in the GULP League saw the top half play against the bottom and as expected there were wins for the top four teams. Leaders Who’s handed out a 7-0 whitewash to Wagon 26’s as did third placed Tribe in their encounter with bottom of the table Rebels. Second placed Lions beat Devils 5-2 and Beasts won by the same margin in their tie with Vicars.
———————————-