West Midlands division one home fixture against Staffordshire in the Riley’s BDO Inter County Championships was cancelled in March due to the adverse weather conditions, they have now played the game and it turned out to be a real disaster.
Saturdays games saw the ladies go down 4-2, Diane Tolley (18.33) their top player, while the men’s ‘B’ side chalked up a much needed 7-5 win, with Doug Thompson taking the match award with his 28.36 average. The following day the ladies finished all square at 3-3, Sarah Thornbury recording a very creditable 22.77 average to take the lady of the match award. However, the men’s ‘A’ side, who had only lost two of their previous outings were unable on this occasion to get the vital win for an overall victory for the team, losing out 7-5 to give an overall 19-17 win to Staffordshire. Taking the men’s ‘A’ award was Ian Jones (29.81).
With one fixture remaining West Midlands have now been thrown deep into the relegation battle, their final game, a must win over bottom of the table Derbyshire. The table currently shows Derbyshire bottom on 137 points, Staffordshire 141, West Midlands 142, County Durham 144 and Dorset 148. Who will be relegated is anyone’s guess.
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The top two teams in the Small Heath League met each other this week, leaders Gulp Tribe travelling to take on second placed Emerald Club. The outcome was a 6-3 win for Gulp Tribe to increase their lead to four points at the top of the table.
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The leading duo in the Cradley Tuesday night League, Brickmakers and Quarry Bank Liberal Club, both had 6-1 wins.
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Midland Dart Centre had a 6-2 win at third placed Waggoners in the Camp Hill League. The win ended a perfect season for the “Darts Centre” as they had won all fourteen of their fixtures and finished four points ahead of runners up Scruffy Ringers, who finished on a high handing out a 7-0 whitewash to Crown Arrows.
Bordesley Labour Club won their final game at Custard House 5-2 to lift them off the foot of the table, to be replaced by their opponents, who took the wooden spoon as they had just three legs of average less than Bordesley.
The league are on the lookout for more teams to join them in the forthcoming season, both new and current teams will be welcomed at their AGM, which is to be held at the Wagon and Horses, Digbeth, on Sunday 19th May at 11.00am.
Anyone requiring any further information should contact either Mark Standley on 07733-397704 or John Young on 07973-228210.
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Riley’s Flights, leaders of division one of the Forest of Arden Winter League, lost their second game in fifteen this week, a surprising 5-4 defeat at home against fourth placed Harvester. However, the loss was not too costly as with 26 points and one game remaining Flights have won the divisional title. Second placed Olton Crown, played their last game of the season and also went down 5-4 in their game at Highwood ‘A’ to finish the season as runners up.
In division two, The Crane won their final game at home to Ivy leaf Bulls 7-2 to clinch the title with 28 points. Crown Arrows lost their final game away to bottom of the table Greville Arms 5-4, a win would have given them 30 points and the title, as it was they lost out on average.
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The Crown at Olton, 2 Masons Way, Olton, Birmingham, B92 7JE will be staging a free to enter knockout on the 5th June and the semi finalists will be invited to play against professional players Scotty “Too Hotty” Waites, “Cool Hand” Scott Rand, “The Hurricane” Kim Huybrechts and Nigel “The Undertaker” Heydon.
For further details contact Mac on 07958-608782.
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Electric received a shock in division two of the Wolverhampton Tuesday Night League this week, losing for the first time in ten games and it was against one of their closest rivals, Village ‘B’, who have move into second place behind Electric, just two points adrift on 16 points. The Bull dropped into third place, going down 5-2 away to the Castle, who are fifth from bottom. Corpus also dropped one place to fifth after losing to seventh in the table Emerald.
In the first division Wednesfield Legion ‘A’ lost ground in the title race as they were beaten 6-1 by Otter and Vixen ‘B’ and now trail leaders Wolverhampton Sports arena by four points.
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Wednesfield FC had a close 4-3 win over fourth placed Moreton in the Tettenhall Wednesday Night League to stretch their unbeaten run to eleven games. Riley’s ‘A’ moved into second place and within two points of the leaders with a convincing 6-1 win at Wrottesly Arms, while Riley’s ‘B’ dropped to third in the table after losing 4-3 at Royal Oak. Riley’s ‘B’ are now on 18 points together with Moreton and Whitmore Reans WMC.
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Just one point separates the top four teams in the Vic Lloyd Thursday Night League, Cleveland Arms leading the pack on 23 points, with Quarry Bank, Staffordshire Knot ‘B’ and Staffordshire Knot ‘A’ all on 22 points. Cleveland had a bye this week but Quarry Bank kept the pressure on them with a 5-1 win at home over Gilberts ‘A, Staffordshire Knot ‘B’ handed out a 6-0 whitewash to their hosts Orange Tree, while Staffordshire Knot ‘A’ won 5-1 away to Wolverhampton Sports Arena.
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As the Sheldon and District Winter League draws to an end, cup fixtures are the order of the day and in the semi finals of the League Cup, premier division champions Saltley Amateur Gardeners beat Riley’s Arrows 7-2 and will now meet Crown at Olton, who won 6-3 against Sheldon Dukes, in the final.
In the division one semi finals, Banbury Club had a massive 9-0 success against Yardley Ex Colts, while Sheldon Social had a more modest 6-3 win over Custard House.
Making up the division two final will be George V and Small Heath Amateur Gardeners, George V beating Crown Arrows 6-3 in their last four play off and Small Heath wining 7-2 against Ivy Leaf.
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