It was cup week in the Four Oaks and District League with first round games in four of the league’s competitions. In the Brian Goodman Cup Erdington Club took the first three games before Pint Pot Flights got their first stripe on the board, Erdington going on to win the tie 6-3
The Duke took the first two games against Drakes Drum in the Ken Rust Cup but Drakes Drum took the next five games to eventually beat The Duke 5-4.
Every game between Red Lion and Golden Hind in the Coronation Shield was won 2-1 but it was Golden Hind who eventually got the 9-6 verdict.
Old Oscott WMC overwhelmed Boldmere Tap taking eight of the first 9 legs to ensure they advanced to the next round of the Norman Day Cup the final score being 10-5 to Old Oscott WMC.
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There were defeats for the top two teams in both divisions of the South Birmingham League in week five, division one leaders Mackadown Social lost 5-4 away to Raven who are fifth in the division, this was Mackadown’s first defeat in the five games played so far. Second in the division one table Coleshill Social lost their home tie with Crown at Shard End 7-2 and as a result drop one place in the table with Erdington Members Club taking over in second place following their 7-2 home win over Banbury Arrows, Erdington are now level on eight points with Mackadown. At the other end of the table the two bottom teams played each other, next to bottom The Trident chalking up their first win a 6-3 result against bottom of the table Crown Arrows.
In division two there was a first defeat of the campaign for The Dog who went down 5-4 at Banbury Flights but like Mackadown in the first division remain in pole position despite the defeat. Second in the table Toby Jug lost 5-4 at home to The Gate and drop to fifth in the table with six points trailing on average behind Banbury Flights, The Bell and The Gate who are all on six points
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The Forest of Arden Winter League played the first round of their Pairs Cup and in the all division one game second in the table Highwood KB won 10-5 away to third placed Kingshurst Knights.
Two of the three fixtures were all division two encounters where leaders Crown Arrows handed out a massive 15-0 whitewash to bottom team Inn on the Green, the other game produced a 13-2 win for second in the table Journeys End Flights against Chelmsley Town.
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Although Paul Higgins didn’t lose either of his fixtures in week 12 of the Shirley Red Lion Premier League he did lose the number one spot, after a 2-2 draw with Dave Hesketh he went on to win 3-1 against Chris Thomas
to set up a tie with rival Mick Gorst. Gorst with a 124 finish beat Tom Bent 3-1 and then draw 2-2 with Adam Stuart before beating Higgins 3-1 with a 180 and 110 checkout to put him on the same 55 points as Higgins but top on average as he has only played 21 games as opposed to Higgins having played 23.
Mick Bown after losing 3-1 to Chris Thomas reversed the result to beat Brian Lawton but nevertheless dropped one place to joint third level on points, average and games played with Andy Hoy who had 3-1 wins over both Steve Heeks and Tony Daly.
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No change at the top of the Camp Hill League as in week fourteen all of the top four teams won, leaders Cotteridge Lane Club bounced back from the previous week’s 4-3 reversal away to Eagle and Ball and recorded a convincing 6-1 win at home against New Inn to keep them two points to the good on second placed Hay Mills Social Club who won 4-3 at Wagon and Horses. Third in the table Holy Gulp are a further four points behind after their 5-2 success against Devil’s Club and making up the top four is Eagle and Ball who followed up their tremendous win over Cotterills with a 5-2 triumph at Emerald Club who are fifth in the table.
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The Winmau Centre Monday Night League produced a top of the table clash between leaders What’s The Point and second placed Smash It. The honours were even on maximums, two each, Alex Simmons and Jimmy Handley for Smash It and Adam Teasdale and Mark Footman for What’s The Point, but the all important match result of 26-22 went in favour of What’s The Point to give them a total of 311 points and a lead of fourteen over their opponents.
Third in the table The Outcasts had a bye this week but fourth placed The Untouchables made up ground as they won 38-10 against Full Monty giving them 239 points from eight games, the leading duo have both played nine.
At the foot of the table bottom team Double Trouble took on Make Mine A Double who are just above them, the outcome was a 28-20 win for Make Mine A Double to give them a 28 points advantage over their opponents.
Other players to hit a 180 were Dave Barrs (Full Monty) and Andy Busby (The Untouchables).
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Gulp Tribe lost ground in the Small Heath League title race as they lost 7-2 playing away to Mitre who are now just two points behind their opponents, Gulp trail leaders East Birmingham Allotment Holders Association by four points.
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The Pip Club League had their Belgrave Cup on the agenda and in the division one games there were wins for Queens Head, Bulls Head ‘A’ (Polesworth) and Birchmoor Club while Royal Oak and Wigginton Arms won through in division two, Pip Club and Globe (Wilnecote) both had a bye.
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Recently there have been a couple of charity events in the Black Country area both to raise money for the Nick and Sharon Fullwell fund in aid of the Mary Stevens Hospice. The first of the events was at the Upper Gornal Conservative Club where Stuart Barnett, Geoff Marson, Ashley Marson, Carl Sparrow and Gary Barnett took part in a ten hours marathon.
In addition to the collections and raffles on the night sponsor forms had been circulated and the event raised a fantastic amount of £802.
Stuart Barnett, Geoff Marson, Ashley Marson, Carl Sparrow and gary Barnett
The second of the fund raisers was held at the Beech Tree, Blackheath where the reigning West Midlands Men’s Super League Champions Crown ‘A’ plus a couple of guest players took on the local ‘X’ Men Charity Team.
It turned out to be a feast of darts on the night with the final result ending all square at 6-6, however there was a winner and it was Mary Stevens Hospice as a grand total of £760 was raised with the figure expected to go up even higher over the coming days/weeks.
The Beech Tree The ‘X’ Men
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The Netherton Thursday Night League had the finals of their singles knockout on the fixture card and lifting the title with a final 3-1 win over White Swan’s P.Wells was J.Batham representing Dudley Sports.
In the semi finals Batham won 2-0 against S.Griffiths (Delph Bell ‘B’) while Wells just got the 2-1 edge on S.Tipper from Bulls Head.
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The Brierley Hill Friday Night League played their singles competition down to the last sixteen and winning through from a tremendous entry of 85 players were A.Smith, R.Colley, A.Mears, J.Rollinson, W.Page, R.Riaz, C.Harris-Green, M.Rollinson, B.Weatherall, C.Penzer, D.Marshall, C.Davies, D.Male, S.Skidmore, A.Neale and W.Cairne.
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The Nutan power on in the Bilston and District League week 14 seeing them beat The Orange Tree 7-0 in the 301 league and 3-0 in the 501 league.
In the 301 league Nutan have a four points lead over second placed Lanesfield RBL who despite having a game in hand on the leaders lost ground as they were beaten 4-3 at home by their nearest rivals third in the table Tilted Barrel who are now just two points behind Lanesfield.
The same three teams occupy the top three places in the 501 league again its Nutan who top the table with 28 points from 14 games but its Tilted Barrel who are second after they made it a double over Lanesfield with a 2-1 win putting them four points ahead of their opponents, both Tilted and Lanesfield have a game in hand on Nutan.
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The Stourbridge and District Wednesday Night League are up to week 23 and there were wins for all of the top three teams as leaders Ashwood ‘A’ were held to a close 4-3 success at Ten Arches ‘B’, second placed Miners Welfare Club had a more comfortable 5-2 home win over Ten Arches ‘A’, leaving them as they were two points behind Ashwood and third in the table Gornal Conservative Club, who are a further two points adrift also won 5-2 at home to Portway.
Britannia had a somewhat surprising 4-3 defeat at home to bottom half Crestwood which sees the hosts drop from fourth to sixth in the table and six points behind Ashwood ‘A’.
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Singles finals night for the Wolverhampton Tuesday Night League and taking the crown was young fifteen years old Reece Cook-Lucas (Gilberts Bar) with a final 3-1 victory over Dave Powell from the Cabin.
In the semi finals teenager Reece beat J.Evans (Riley’s ‘C’) while Powell won against J.Simmons (Wednesfield Conservative Club).
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In the penultimate fixture of the Tettenhall Wednesday Night League Whitmore Reans WMC who are already acclaimed champions won 5-2 at home against Otter and Vixen while Cleveland Arms, who are four points adrift of the champions, with a 7-0 victory at ECC ‘B’ clinched the runners up spot as they in turn are four points to the good on third in the table Riley’s ‘A’ who won 5-2 at Jones Road.
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The Tamworth League played off the first two rounds of their League Cup and the biggest shock of the first round was the huge 6-1 win by Globe Inn (Wilnecote), who are eighth in the table against Mile Oak Rovers who are fifth and had home board advantage.
Progressing through round two and into the last four were Sports Bar, Wigginton Arms ‘B’, Globe Inn (Wilnecote) and Sports Bar ‘180’
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