Salopian’s quest for promotion continued in division two of the UKDA National League with a home fixture against Tyne and Wear. Prior to the fixture Salopian were second on 112 points and their opponents fourth with 104 points, both teams having everything to play for.
The home team had a great start with first on Paula Davies turning in a lady of the match performance as she won 3-0 against Florence Kippen with a 15.34 average. Hayley McGuinness doubled the hosts lead with her 3-1 win over Jade Gill before Tyne and Wear got their first winner in the shape of Toni Straughan who beat Anna Peatroy 3-2. The game was levelled at 2-2 in the fourth when Caroline Dorothy won 3-2 against Rachael Mooney, but it was Salopian who took the lead again in the fifth when Tammy Walmsley added her 3-1 win over Samantha Mann to their tally, the final score taken to 3-3 when Maureen Purvis won the last game against Stacey Pepperrell 3-0.
The first five games of the men’s ‘B’ match all went with the first throw advantage, Tyne and Wear taking the lead three time through Brad Fraser, Ryan Hanratty and Ollie Male who in turn defeated Kevin Rogers (4-2), Danny Humphries (4-1) and Mick Unsworth (4-3) with the home side replying through Jamie Kynaston who beat Shaun Galloway 4-0 and Ben Bevan who had a 4-3 success against Matthew Hodgson. The last game of the first half went to David White (Tyne and Wear) who had a 4-0 win over Scott Towers to see his team lead 4-2 at the break.
From 4-2 up the away side then moved into an unbeatable 6-2 lead as the second half got underway, Dean Kippen beating Dave Bayton 4-3 and Peter Holden winning by the same 4-3 margin against Paul Ashworth. At this point the tide turned and Salopian won the remaining four games as Ian Bride beat Ian Thoms 4-1, Jamie Chaplin won 4-0 against John Allan, Andy Evans with a man of the match display won 4-0 against Paul Johnson and averaged 27.08 and with a final 4-0 success for James Jenkins over Kieran Holden the home side had salvaged a 6-6 draw after trailing 6-2, a great fight back. .
Going into Sunday’s ‘A’ games the running score was level at 9-9, Tyne and Wear taking the early lead as Angela Kirkwood won the first game of the ladies ‘A’ against Emma Tapp 3-1. Kate Titley wiped out the away team’s lead when she won 3-1 against Angie Mann only to see Tyne and Wear forge ahead again in the third when Tracey Curry beat Sue Lane 3-2. The visitors went further ahead in the fourth when Marie Seago beat Julie Griffiths 3-2, but reducing the deficit to 3-2 was Tracey Dean, her 3-1 win against Pat Coulson keeping the home team still in with a chance of a share of the spoils, and that was what they got as Steph Clarks turned in a fantastic lady of the match game against Jasmine Rusworth winning with a straight 3-0 result and averaging a tremendous 25.91 to take the final score to 3-3.
In what was turning out to be a very tight game the score now after completing three of the four matches was level at 12-12, Tyne and Wear opened up a 2-0 lead in the men’s ‘A’ game as John Kippen jnr won 4-3 against Gary Crowther and Andrew Heath beat Andy Gilbert 4-2. The following two games both went to Salopian as Mark Crutchley won 4-2 against David Stokell and Kacey Jones had a 4-1 win over Michael Dunn. Despite fighting back to level the score at two each the next two games went to Tyne and Wear to give them a 4-2 lead at the halfway point, Davis White winning 4-1 against Terry Nash and Chris Vaughan beating Dafydd Edwards 4-0.
From 4-2 down the home side then trailed 5-2 as Ryan Hanratty won the first of the second half games against Eddie Price 4-2. Two 4-1 wins supplied by Paul Rowley and Ash Hilditch against respective opponents Eddie Ashman and Lee Rump reduced the arrears to 5-4, but Tyne and Wears two games buffer was once again restored in the tenth when Matthew Hodgson beat Steve O’Callaghan 4-2. Now requiring something special to get a share of the points Jon Mansell turned on a man of the match performance against Kevin Hughes beating him 4-1 with a 28.21 average to leave the result hinging on the final game of the weekend. Anchor man for Salopian was Mark Graham and for Tyne and Wear, another Mark, Mark Smith. The result was a 4-2 win for Mark Graham to see his team finish all-square at 6-6 and also level for the weekend at 18-18.
The overall result saw both Salopian and Tyne and Wear hold on to their respective positions in the divisional table second and fourth with Salopian left trailing leaders Worcestershire by six points and Tyne and Wear some fourteen points off the top.
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