Going into their penultimate fixture of the season in the L-Style Division One of the UKDA National League Black Country were lying sixth in the division on 170 points and their final home game was against Devon who were three places below them on 138 points, so a win for the home team was on the cards and hopefully for them a move up the table.
The ladies ‘B’ could not have had a better start as their opener Heather Wright laid on a lady of the match performance in her 3-2 win over Katie Miller which gave her an average of 16.76. Wright’s win was quickly erased however as Hayley Brant levelled for Devon with her 3-1 success over Paige Robbins. The hosts took the lead once again in the third thanks to a 3-1 win from Abbey Hunt who accounted for Kirsty Whiting-O’Brien. Unfortunately for the home team that was to be their final win as Rhea Winsor, Lisa White and Kayleigh Adams in turn all handed out 3-0 defeats to Doreen Hunt, Stella Sims and Sarah-Jane Parker to give Devon the 4-2 win.
The men’s ‘B’ side had an excellent first half winning five of the six games as Mark Jones and Rich Bowen gave them an early 2-0 lead when they both won 3-0 in turn against Macauley Campbell and Mark Shears. John Bush (Devon) was taken to a decider by Ryan Green but halved the arrears with his 3-2 win. The remainder of the half went to Black Country as Ali Hickinbottom and Connor Whitehouse in turn won 3-2 against Danny Belsten and Shane House and then rounding off the half and giving the hosts a 5-1 lead was Ian Townsend who won 3-1 against Ian Loveridge.
As the second session got underway it was a case of more of the same as Sam Bissell took the running score to 6-1 with his 3-0 win over Curtis Green and chalking up the magical winning seventh game was man of the match Rob Smith who defeated Mark Turner 3-2 with a 27.46 average. Adding to Black Country’s total were Martin Greenwood and Mark Rollinson who had respective 3-2 and 3-0 wins over Shaun Hurrell and Tom Singleton before Devon had their best run of the match winning the final two games with Steve Boyce beating Al Smith 3-2 and Simon Washington winning 3-0 against John Green to put the final score at 8-4 to Black Country and giving them a lead of 11-7 to take into Sunday’s games.
After a somewhat disappointing result for the ladies ‘B’, the ladies ‘A’ stormed into a match winning 4-0 lead all starting with a 3-1 win from Chez Allcock who beat Lisa Hughes 3-1. Tammy Chance doubled the lead with her 3-2 success over Anna Pearce and with a similar 3-2 win, Grace Angell not only accounted for Karen Matthews but also claimed the lady of the match award for her 21.85 average. Chalking up the match winning fourth stripe was Heather Wright who handed out a straight 3-0 defeat to Tracy Ware. Devon got their one and only winner in the penultimate game, Kelly Gabriel winning 3-0 against Doreen Hunt. With a last game 3-2 win for Amy-Leigh Tolley against Alison Gabriel-Wotton the result was a convincing 5-1 win for Black Country.
Devon were first off the mark in the men’s ‘A’ game, Mike Pearce winning 4-1 against Shane Sheridan, however that lead was quickly cancelled out as the hosts rattled off four consecutive wins thanks to Dan Homer, Jamie Rollinson, Liam Kelly and Steve Jones who in turn accounted for Flynn Jones (4-1), Scott Andrews (4-3), Mark Vellacott (4-1) and Daniel Brazier (4-3). The first half was rounded off with a 4-3 win for Devon’s Tex Pearce who was taken to a seventh leg by Aaron Colley before winning 4-3.
The second half began with Black Country extending their lead to 5-2 when Trev Brennan beat Paul Milford 4-1 before a 4-3 win for Daniel Case over Paul Wells gave Devon their third winner. A draw was guaranteed for the hosts in the ninth when man of the match Reece Colley won 4-0 against Ben Chamberlain with a superb 32.85 average and although Jack Walker pulled one back for the visitors when he beat George Willetts 4-3 the final score was taken to 8-4 with wins in the last two games by Jamie Barrowman and Tom Bissell, Barrowman winning 4-0 against Kieran Joy and Bissell beating Andy Hitchman 4-2.
The overall 24-12 victory for Black Country has seen them move up two places in the table to fourth with 197 points, nineteen short of leaders Suffolk, seven fewer than second placed Leicestershire and just one behind third placed Gwent so everything now depends on the results for the final games of the season and the big question is will Black Country play in division one or the championship next season?
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