Salopian’s third fixture in division two of the UKDA National League was an away game against Cumbria, prior to the fixture Cumbria were placed seventh in the division with thirty-three points while Salopian were third with forty-five points.
Despite the league placing’s the weekend didn’t begin well for Salopian as the ladies ‘B’ slumped to a 5-1 defeat, the home side roaring into a match winning 4-0 lead with wins from Ali McMillan. Fiona Dorward, Emma McGarvie and Val Hargrave who in turn won against Emma Callaghan (3-1), Chloe Ames (3-2), Anna Peatroy (3-1) and Julie Pugh (3-1). Salopian’s solitary winner came in the fifth when Hayley McGuinness beat Laura Tweeddale 3-2 to earn herself the team’s match award for her 18.20 average. Wrapping up the 5-1 win for Cumbria was Jules Fisher who won the last game against Karen Weston 3-0.
After going one down when John Wightman (Cumbria) beat Dean Stokes 4-0, Salopian then went 2-1 up as Jamie Chaplin beat Mark Hird 4-0 and Jon Mansell won by the same 4-0 scoreline against Mike Crawshaw. Parity was restored in the fourth when Michael Adams won 4-3 against Matt Maxfield only to see the away side forge ahead again in the fifth when Rob Paine won 4-1 against Gary Horrigan. Levelling the score at three each at the halfway point was Craig Devine with his 4-1 success over Matt Williams.
Salopian took the lead once again as the second session got underway, James Jenkins beating Steve Dixon 4-2, only to see the game once again squared in the eighth when Jack Pollard won 4-2 against Mick Unsworth, then with a further 4-2 win for Matt Smith against Steve O’Callaghan, Cumbria were 5-4 up. Keeping Salopian in the match was their man of the match Dave Bayton with his 4-2 win over Brett Lowden and award winning average of 25.33. The hosts then went into an unbeatable 6-5 lead when in the penultimate encounter Will Rowley beat Ian Evans 4-1 but with a similar result for the away team’s Andy Gilbert in the final game against David Carr the result was all-square at six each.
The ladies ‘A’ match had a similar scoreline as the ‘B’ game which was 5-1 but on this occasion it went in favour of Salopian. Kate Titley was first on for Salopian and won 3-1 against Ann Scholey. Julie Griffiths made it 2-0 when she beat Mary Paine 3-2 and with a 3-0 success for Tracey Dean against Hilary Kirkbride, the visitors were 3-0 up and couldn’t lose the game. Jules Fisher was Cumbria’s one and only winner as she won by a close 3-2 against Emma Tapp before Steph Clarke, not only guaranteed the win with her straight 3-0 success over Lesley Pattinson but at the same time won the lady of the match award for her super 23.12 average. Rounding off the 5-1 victory was Sue Lane with her 3-1 win over Leanne Howard to take the running score to 12-12 with everything to play for, for both the men’s ‘A’ teams.
Although Salopian had the first stripe on the board in the men’s A’ game when Gary Crowther won 4-1 against David Cunningham the lead was short lived as the hosts won the next three games as Ronnie Kirk beat Mark Graham 4-1, Alan Armstrong won 4-2 against Terry Nash and Andy Goodfellow beat Jon Mansell 4-3. The away team’s fight-back began with an award winning performance from Paul Rowley who won his game against Craig Lewthwaite with a straight 4-0 result and superb 30.83 average. The half closed with a 4-1 win for Mark Crutchley over Jimmy Clucas to level the score at the break at 3-3.
The second half began as did the first with a win for Salopian as Daffyd Edwards won 4-3 against Geoff Ramshaw and with a further 4-2 success for Eddie Price over John Murray, Salopian were 5-3 up. However once again the lead didn’t last too long as Neil Linford won 4-3 against Jamie Kynaston and with a further 4-2 win from Dez Halbert once again the game was levelled, now at 5-5. Andy Evans assured Salopian of a share of the points when he won the penultimate game against Adam Jenkinson 4-3 and then in the final game of the weekend Ash Hilditch beat Mike Sowerby 4-0 to seal a 7-5 win for Salopian’s men’s ‘A’ and an overall hard fought 19-17 victory.
The win for the weekend saw Salopian move up one place in the table to second on sixty-seven points just eight short of leaders Worcestershire.