In division three Shropshire had a home fixture with Breconshire and at the start of the day Shropshire were sixth in the division with 103 points and their visitors second on 106 points, so not much between the two teams but a defeat for either would do them, no favours whatsoever.
Although Breconshire got the first winner in the ladies ‘B’ game when Louise Davies won 3-2 against Tanya Dolman, the lead was short lived as the hosts then stormed into an unassailable 3-1 lead with wins from, lady of the match Kelly Millington who won 3-1 against Louisa Fox with a 14.03 average, Deana Sheldon handed out a 3-0 defeat to Hayley Mathews and Lauren Kempson beat Carol Bufton 3-2. Although now the home team only required one win from the last two games it was Breconshire who won both as Sharon Hill got the better of Gemma Smith with a close 3-2 verdict and Sally Urwin won the last game against Dianne Newton 3-0 to see the match finish all-square at 3-3.
The first game of the men’s ‘B’ match went to Breconshire as Phillip Evans won 4-0 against Paul Penfold, however that was the only setback of the first half as the remaining five games all went to Shropshire. Mitch Pickett, Josh Pickett, Ethan Shaw and Kye Simmonds all won 4-3 in turn against Jordan Salmon, Ben Hunt, Euan Preece and Jason Parnell with Kye Simmonds taking the match award for his win and 24.72 average. The last game of the half saw Connor Whitehouse account for Sam Turner with a another 4-3 result to take the score to 5-1 in Shropshire’s favour at the end of the half.
As in the first half the opening game of the second session saw Breconshire chalk up a winner as Zac Turner doubled their account with his 4-3 win over Jack Darby before Paul Bromley assured his team mates of at the worst a draw when he defeated Marcus Hawkins 4-0. The visitors third and what turned out to be their last winner came in the ninth game when Kieran Waters beat Paul Harrison 4-1. The win was achieved in the tenth when with another 4-1 scoreline Brian Hickman won against Andrew Kerry and with two straight 4-0 wins in the last two games from Eddie Austin and Shane Passey over James Phillips and Ben Lewis, Shropshire’s men’s ‘B’ won the game 9-3.
All of the ladies ‘A’ games results went with the first throw advantage to end at 3-3. Breconshire took the lead three times and on each occasion had it cancelled out, Chris Sheen their first winner as she, despite being taken to a deciding leg won 3-2 against Marie Riggs. Sarah Williams levelled the game with her lady of the match display against Emma Richards in which she won 3-1 and produced a 17.49 average. Stacy Barnes gave the away team the lead for a second time with her 3-0 win over Jenna-Louise Ball, only to see Michele Pritchard hand out the same 3-0 defeat to Sian Harris to take the score to 2-2. Joy Toghill was Breconshire’s third winner she added her 3-2 success against Sophia Ward to their tally before last on Nicola Ball won with a similar 3-2 result against Helen Kerry to end the game all-square at 3-3.
Shropshire men’s ‘A’ now required four winners to give an overall victory for the weekend and that requirement was halved in the opening two games as Chris Fox won 4-3 against Wayne Glover and Andy Vellender beat Ian Evans 4-2. Two 4-3 wins from Stuart Hossack and Dale Hughes against, in turn Andre Knox and Rob Pierce levelled the game at two each bit with the last two games of the half going to the hosts their victory for the weekend was achieved. Ben Johnson and Andrew Jervis closed the half with 4-1 wins over their respective opponents Nathan Perry and Bryan Flew to take the score to 4-2 to Shropshire at the end of the first half.
Sam Aitkens made it 5-2 as he began the second session, beating Craig Dobbins 4-2 and although Anthony Bennett with a 4-0 win over Mark Zambra made it 5-3, wins from Kevin Harris, 4-3 against Mark Layton, Bret Cooper, who won 4-0 against Chris Carey and Richard Parker whose 4-0 win against Marcus Jones earned him the match award for his 27.83 average took Shropshire’s lead to 8-3. The last game of the weekend went to Gethin Bennett, his 4-3 win over Adam Thackray taking the final score to 8-4 to Shropshire.
The overall 23-13 victory saw Shropshire move up into fourth place on 129 points, only six short of second placed West of England while Breconshire dropped from second to sixth with 119 points.
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