In the Andy Wheeler Fisheries Championship Division, West Midlands played an away game against Derbyshire with both sides struggling for points and anxious to get away from the relegation zone.
Saturday’s games saw the home side chalk up a 12-6 lead with the ladies ‘B’ winning 5-1 and the men’s ‘B’ winning 7-5. Match awards for the home side going to Jane Densley (23.12) and Keith Lodge (27.29) and for the West Midlands Jacqueline Trott (13.30) and Glen McGrandle (26.62).
Derbyshire ladies continued their weekend with a 4-2 win for the ladies ‘A’, Rebecca Hoyland their top player with a fine 23.86 average, Jacqueline Maiden the West Midlands award winner for her 19.51 average. The men’s ‘A’ ’team‘ provided the only shining light for the West Midlands over the weekend as they ran out 9-3 winners with Shaun Carroll taking the man of the match award for his super 31.17 average and Gary Fenn receiving the same accolade for Derbyshire with his 28.63 average.
The overall result for the weekend was a close 19-17 win for Derbyshire to see them leap-frog their opponents and move to two places off the foot of the table with 155 points from eight games while West Midlands dropped to next to bottom of the division with 153 points from nine games.
In addition to their away game against Derbyshire, West Midlands had their final game of the season, a home tie with Northamptonshire brought forward. Prior to the fixture West Midlands were next to bottom and their opponent’s three places above them with thirteen more points.
The weekend got off to a good start for the home team’s ladies ‘B’ as Jacqueline Trott opened up with a 3-2 win over Debbie Dexter and was then followed by Sarah Maybury who made it 2-0 when she beat Taylor Johnson 3-1. However, from 2-0 up West Midlands then found themselves trailing 3-2 as the visitors Jo Johnson, Nicola Coleman and Jackie White in turn defeated Kelly Doleman (3-2), Crysta Wilcox (3-1) and Gemma Barrett (3-1) to leave the result hinging on the final game between Shellbie Simmons (West Midlands) and Hollie McKain. A straight 3-0 win for Shellbie Simmons and a 17-08 average netted Shellbie not only the lady of the match award but also earned her team-mates a share of the spoils with a final 3-3 result.
Northamptonshire got the first stripe on the board in the men’s ‘B’ match when their Paul Shepherd won 4-3 against Mark Craddock but the lead was quickly reversed as man of the match Scott Baker, with a 4-1 win over Paul Walker plus a 27.47 average levelled the game before Luke Griffiths gave West Midlands a 2-1 lead with his 4-2 win over Alex Dilley. As before the lead didn’t last long as the visitors then had two wins in a row from their Kyran Johnson and John Regan who defeated respective opponents Callum Parkes (4-2) and Ian Stanton (4-0). By the midway point it was level-pegging as the home side’s Glen McGrandle closed the half with a 4-3 win over Joe Judkins to make it 3-3.
West Midlands went ahead for a second time as the second session got underway, Darren Williams adding his straight 4-0 win over Michael Feasey to their account before the away side yet again reversed the advantage when Jamie Preston won 4-3 against Karl Hughes and Jay Hewitt beat Mark Zambra 4-2. With the score at 5-4 in Northamptonshire’s favour Adam Teasdale levelled the game when he won 4-1 against Simon Almey but a 4-3 win for Northamptonshire’s Stuart Gilmour over Kieran O’Mahoney yet again left the outcome resting on the final. Once more the West Midlands anchor player came good as Ryan Locker won his game against Stephen Brennan 4-0 to take the final score to 6-6 and on the day give an overall 9-9 scoreline.
Northamptonshire had two Rebecca’s on in their first two games of the ladies ‘A’ match and both of them came up trumps as opener Rebecca Rose beat Tara Simmons-Fullwood 3-0 and Rebecca Barrow made it 2-0 with her similar 3-0 success over Julie Emry. Jacqueline Trott pulled one back for the Midlanders with her 3-1 win against Amy Chappell but a third 3-0 win for the visitors from Angela Barrow over Jacqueline Simmons put the away side within an ace of victory. That victory came in the very next game when Carrie Wright added her 3-2 result against Shellbie Simmons to put Northamptonshire into an unassailable 4-1 lead. The final game produced the West Midlands lady of the match as Jacqueline Maiden, despite being taken to a decider by Ellie Moore won 3-2 to take the final score to 4-2 in favour of the away side.
Strangely five of the opening six games of the men’s ‘A’ game went against the first throw advantage with the home side taking the lead twice in the first four games and having it cancelled out. Ben Johnson gave the hosts the first win when he accounted for Duane Small with his 4-3 win, Josh Richardson replying for Northamptonshire with his similar 4-3 win over Jack Aldridge. A 4-0 win for Ash Khayat restored the home team’s lead as he defeated Jason Lovell but parity was restored in the fourth when Rick Evans won 4-3 against Shaun Carroll. Giving the Midland side the lead for a third time was Michael Baker, his 4-1 win over Chris Shipley putting them 3-2 up before the first half was completed with another 4-1 scoreline when Gavin Baker made it 4-2 with his win against Phil Coward.
Luke Smith reduced the home team’s lead to 4-3 as the second half kicked-off as he won 4-1 against Rob Thompson only to see the two games buffer restored for West Midlands when Ryan O’Connor beat John Reagan 4-0. Northamptonshire came back fighting again in the ninth when Ben Goodger won 4-0 against Ian Jones but a draw was assured for the hosts when their man of the match Dean Simmons-Fullwood won 4-0 against Leigh Peters with a super 31.31 average. From an unbeatable 6-4 lead West Midlands then stormed into a winning 8-4 result as Kevin Bambrick added his 4-1 win over Colin Gray, and with a final 4-3 success for Richard Platt against Lee Rose the West Midlands men’s ‘A’ had not only made it an 8-4 win for themselves but at the same time secured an invaluable 19-17 overall victory for the weekend.
The win has given West Midlands a lifeline to secure their Championship Division status as they have moved up four places in the table to sixth with 175 points, their destiny now rests in the hands of the teams below them as they all have one more game to play and those results will decide where West Midlands will be playing next season.
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