Salopian’s final fixture in Division Two of the UKDA National League was an away game against County Durham, on current form and placing’s in the divisional table a win for Salopian was well on the cards as they were riding high in third place with 169 points and their hosts some four places below them with 145 points and dangerously close to the relegation zone.
The weekend began well for Salopian as the ladies ‘B’ opened up a 2-0 lead when Anna Peatroy and Tammy Walmsley in turn won 3-2 against Fran Jones and Mia Ashurst. The home side got their first winner in the third when Melissa Sams won 3-0 against Sue Lane, the match was then levelled in the fourth when Suzanne Nixon defeated Kate Titley 3-2. With another 3-2 win and giving County Durham the lead for the first time in the game was Sandra Cairns who accounted for Hayley McGuinness. Fortunately for Salopian, on the day they had kept their best till last as Cally Jones not only beat Sharon Storey 3-0 to earn her team a share of the points in a 3-3 draw but at the same time she won the lady of the match award for her 15.82 average.
The men’s ‘B’ game was possibly one to forget as the first half of the match all went to the home side with wins for Carl Malpass, Carl Redden, Michael Walker, James McClurg, Paul Berriman and Stephen Annan who beat respective opponents Matt Williams (3-1), Glyn Thomas (3-2), James Jenkins (3-1), Adam Cadwallader (3-1), Ian Evans (3-1) and Kev Rogers (3-2).
Things didn’t get much better for the visitors as the second half got underway as the hosts stormed into an unassailable 9-0 lead as Paul Welsh beat Darren Lane 3-0, Ian Adamson won 3-2 against Neil Evans and Martin Farmer had a 3-1 success against Toto Noriel. It was the tenth encounter before Salopian got their first and what turned out to be their only winner as Eddie Price wrapped up the man of the match award with his 19.18 average and 3-1 win over Paddy Lenagh. The final two games of the day went to County Durham as Lee Johnstone beat Dan Jones 3-0 and Paul Telford made it an 11-1 win for the home side with his 3-1 success over Andy Gilbert.
As in the ladies ‘B’ match, the ladies ‘A’ also opened up a 2-0 lead as Evonne Taylor and Tracey Dean not only both chalked up straight 3-0 wins over their respective opponents Bryleigh Welsh and Cheryl Adamson but also recorded the exact same average of 17.48 to share the lady of the match award. The following two games both had 3-1 results and both went to the hosts as Cheryl Adamson and Clare Stewart in turn defeated Julie Griffiths and Kate Titley, then with 3-0 wins for County Durham’s last two players Linda Hindmarch and Margaret Stewart at the expense of Emma Tapp and Cally Jones the final score was a 4-2 win for the home side.
As County Durham won all of the opening first half games of the men’s ‘B’ match, Salopian replied by winning all six of the first half games of the men’s ‘A’ encounter. Chalking up the 6-0 lead were Ben Bevan, Paul Rowley, Mark Crutchley, Terry Nash, Steven Ritchie and Jamie Kynaston who accounted for their respective opponents Jack Kirtland (4-1), Andy Allaker (4-2), Graham Robertson (4-1), Robbie Douthwaite (4-3), Dean Scott (4-3) and Matthew Hodgson (4-0).
The win was achieved as early as the seventh game as man of the match Jon Mansell won 4-2 against Jack Bell with a 29.85 average. From a winning 7-0 lead it all then went a little pear-shaped as County Durham wrapped up the remaining five games. Gary Miller won 4-2 against Andy Gilbert, Michael Gladstone beat Gary Crowther 4-3, Paul Dinning had a 4-0 success against Ben Morgan and taking the final score to 7-5 in Salopian’s favour was Leo Middleton (County Durham) with his 4-2 win over Eddie Price.
The overall result for the weekend was a 23-13 success for County Durham which saw them remain seventh in the division with 171 points, opening up a gap of sixteen points between themselves and third from bottom Surrey. Salopian dropped one place to fourth on 182 points, their twenty-three point’s deficit on divisional runners-up Middlesex ruling out any hopes they had of promotion this season.
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