Shropshire’s final game of the season in division three of the UKDA National League was a home tie with Cumbria. Going into the fixture Shropshire were lying seventh in the table on 157 points and their opponents riding high in second place with 204 and promotion virtually assured.
Opening up for Shropshire’s ladies ‘B’ was Dianne Newton who gave them the early lead when she accounted for Tessa Ferris with a 3-2 result. Doubling the home side’s lead was Sarah Williams who had a straight 3-0 win over Fiona Dorward before Cumbria gained their first winner in the shape of Ali MacMillam who beat Kirstie Millington 3-1. An award winning show from Deana Sheldon in her 3-1 win and 17.24 average against Emma McGarvey put Shropshire 3-1 up and although Cumbria got their second winner in the fifth game when Val Hargrave beat Lauren Kempson 3-0, victory was achieved for the home side when in the last game Gemma Smith had a 3-0 win over Leanne Howard to put the final score at 4-2 to Shropshire.
It was not such a good start for the men’s ‘B’ as John Murray put Cumbria one up when he won 3-2 against Mark Jones and although Kye Simmonds cancelled out Murray’s win when he beat Gary Horrigan 3-2 the remainder of the half went in favour of Cumbria. Dan Vallance won 3-0 against Lee Dolman, Mike Sowerby had a 3-1 win over Rob Pierce, Mark Hird beat Adam Thackray 3-2 and taking the score to 5-1 to Cumbria was Dez Halbert who accounted for Jon Blakemore with a 3-0 scoreline.
From 5-1 up the away side then went into an unbeatable 7-1 lead with further wins from Jack Pollard who won 3-0 against Josh Ball and Craig Lewthwaite who added his 3-1 success over Mitch Pickett to the visitors tally. At this point Shropshire had their best run of the match as they won three in a row thanks to Anthony Whitehouse who beat Dex Forster 3-1, Chris Evans who won 3-1 against Brian Mandale and in the process earned himself the man of the match award for his 22.66 average and Rob Pitt who made the running score a little more respectable, his 3-2 win over Michael Williams reducing Cumbria’s lead to 7-4 before Colin Hargrave took the final score to 8-4 to the away team when he beat John Simms 3-1.
With Cumbria going into Sunday’s games with a 10-8 lead it then got worse for the hosts as the ladies ‘A’ slipped to a 4-2 defeat. Cumbria, with three 3-1 wins from their Ann Scholey, Hilary Kirkbride and Mary Paine, who in turn won against Nicola Ball, Sophie Ward and Michele Pritchard were then just one win short of victory and although Shropshire’s Marie Riggs had a 3-2 win over Jules Fisher it only managed to delay the inevitable as in the penultimate game Crissy Manley beat Kelly Millington 3-0 to put even a draw beyond Shropshire’s reach. Last on for Shropshire was Jenna-Louise Ball who recorded a 3-1 win over Lesley Pattinson, her 20.88 average earning her the match award and making the result a little more respectable at 4-2.
The first two games of the men’s ‘A’ match both finished with 4-2 results, Shropshire going 2-0 up thanks to wins from Kevin Harris and Chris Fox at the expense of Steve Dixon and David Carr. Neil Linford pulled one back for Cumbria in the third when he won 4-2 against Andre Knox but by the midway point the hosts had opened up a 5-1 lead with further wins from award winner Richard Parker who average 27.45 in his 4-0 win over John Wightman plus Reece Cook-Lucas and Andrew Jervis who in turn won 4-1 against Alan Armstrong and Andy Goodfellow.
Sam Aitkens guaranteed Shropshire men’s ‘A’ of at the worst a draw when he won the second half opener against Mike Crawshaw 4-3. Cumbria then reduced the arrears to 6-3 when Ronnie Kirk beat Phil Clarke 4-2 and David Cunningham won 4-1 against Paul Harrison. That however was to be the visitor’s last winners as the final three games all went to Shropshire to give them a 9-3 victory. At number ten Andy Vellender handed Will Rowley a straight 4-0 defeat, Vellender followed by Simon Pritchard who beat Geoff Ramshaw 4-3 and rounding off the 9-3 win was Brett Cooper with his 4-1 success over Michael Adams.
The 19-17 win saw Shropshire finish their campaign sixth in the division with 179 points while their opponents ended the season as runners-up with 221 points just two short of divisional champions Northumberland who had 223 points.
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