Officially the fourth season of the UKDA National League commenced on the weekend of the 14th and 15th September, however Shropshire had their opening game in division three, away to Gloucestershire brought forward and played it a week in advance.
The ladies ‘B’ began in fine style with Lauren Kempson giving them the early lead when she won the opener against Sam Higgins 3-0. Doubling Shropshire’s lead was their lady of the match Kirstie Millington who beat Tracey Dix 3-1 with a 13.60 average. From two up the away side were then pegged back to level pegging as Sharon Brewer won 3-1 against Tanya Dolman and Hannah Smith beat Deana Sheldon 3-0. The penultimate encounter went the full five legs distance with Dianne Newton restoring the visitors lead with a 3-2 win over Sharon McNulty. The final game also went the full distance but this one ended up going to Gloucestershire as their Heather Grindle won 3-2 against Gemma Smith to take to see the match finish all-square at 3-3.
It was not such a good start for the men’s ‘B’ as they found themselves trailing 2-0 after Pete Smith won 4-3 against Reece Cook Lucas and Rob Long defeated Kye Simmonds 4-2. Shane Passey stopped the rot and reduced the arrears with his 4-1 win over Ian Beasley and then restoring parity was Mark Zambra who had a similar 4-1 win against Wayne Baker. For the first time in the game Shropshire went ahead in the fifth when Jon Blakemore added his 4-2 success over Dean Thomas to their account but it was all-square at the end of the first half as Rhys Jackson (Gloucestershire) won the sixth against Rob Pierce 4-0.
The away side got the better start of the second half as Rob Pitt with his man of the match performance, a straight 4-0 win over Steve Easton and a 24.44 average clinched the award and took the score to 4-3 to Shropshire. Josh Pickett made it 5-3 when he beat Ian Higgs 4-2 and with a similar 4-2 scoreline Chris Evans won against Clint Keyse to make it 6-3 and put the win beyond the hosts reach. With the winning line in sight the visitors were made to wait as Nathan Meredith’s 4-1 success over Ethan Shaw delayed the Shropshire cheers, however the win came in the very next game as Paul Penfold chalked up the all-important seventh stripe on the board when he defeated Sam Brough 4-2 and with a further 4-0 win for Steve Blewitt in the final game of the day against Keith Lawrence, Shropshire men’s ‘B’ had won 8-4.
Shropshire’s ladies ‘A’ were in terrific form handing out a 6-0 whitewash to their counterparts which was all started by Nicola Ball as she won the first game against Vicky Parmley 3-2. Michele Pritchard made short work of her game against Christine Marsh as she won 3-0 and assuring at least a draw as early as the third game was Sophie Ward who won 3-2 against Kirsty Dixon. Sarah Williams with a lady of the match display won 3-1 against Elaine Powell, took the score to a winning 4-0 margin and collected the team’s award for her 18.73 average. The last two games both finished with 3-2 scorelines, both of them going to Shropshire as in turn Marie Riggs and Jenna-Louise Ball defeated Carol Smith and Suzie Slater to complete the 6-0 rout.
Two winners were all that were required from the men’s ‘A’ to give Shropshire an overall victory for the weekend but the match didn’t have the best of starts as Gloucestershire’s Rhys Jackson and Rich Bambridge won 4-0 against respective opponents Ben Johnson and Andre Knox. Adam Thackeray (Shropshire) was taken the full seven legs distance by Andy Hammond but won the decider to momentarily reduce the deficit to 2-1 only to see Andy Morse add his 4-2 win over Sam Aitkens to the home team’s tally and restore their two games buffer. Shropshire got their vital second winner in game number five, Connor Whitehouse beating Mark Turley with a close 4-3 result. A 4-2 win for Paul Lane over Kevin Harris in the final game of the half took Gloucestershire’s lead to 4-2.
The hosts went further ahead as the second half began, Mark Wellington winning 4-1 against Brian Dolman before Shropshire’s award winner Richard Parker added his 4-2 win over Darrel Williams to their account and took the award for his 25.38 average. In their best run of the game Shropshire then added another winner as Andy Vellender made it two wins in a row when he beat Kieran Smith 4-0 to reduce the arrears to 5-4. Steve Handley and Leslie Higgs gave the home side a winning 7-4 margin when they won in turn 4-3 and 4-2 against Brett Cooper and Andrew Jervis with the final score taken to 7-5 as Chris Fox won the last game of the weekend against Mark Blandford 4-3.
So a final 22-14 win for Shropshire, which albeit it only lasted for one week, it took them to the top of the division three table. It was a great team effort and a superb away victory in the opening game of their new season, hopefully more of the same to come.
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