Shropshire went into their final game of the season in division three of the UKDA National League knowing that a win, or even a draw in their away game against West of England would secure promotion and they would play in division two next season, however it was never going to be an easy task as their hosts were lying third in the division and only three points short of Shropshire.
It was not the best of starts to the weekend as the ladies ‘B’ crashed to a 5-1 defeat and West of England’s five winners all came in the opening five games. Getting the home side off to a winning start was Sheridan Chapman who won 3-1 against Sara Jones. A 3-0 win for Jayne Fitzgerald over Gemma Smith made it 2-0 before Julia Archer put the home team into an unassailable 3-0 position beating Dianne Newton 3-2. The win came in the very next game when Ang Griffiths won 3-0 against Kirstie Millington and with a further 3-1 success for Katie Bishop over Tanya Dolman, West of England had their five winners. Shropshire got their sole winner in the last game when Lauren Kempson won 3-2 against Abbie Chappell to earn the match award for her 14.79 average and the fact that she was the only winner.
Trailing 5-1, it was not too long before that was increased to 10-1 as Owen Smith, Gary Grimmitt, Paul Meyer, Mark Rose and Wayne Allen in turn defeated Brian Hickman (4-1), Brian Dolman (4-2), Steve Lynch (4-1), Mitch Pickett (4-1) and Jon Blakemore (4-0). The last game of the first half saw Shropshire chalk up their first winner and what turned out to be at the end of the day their only winner. With a 4-2 success over Nathan Fieldhouse, Rob Pierce averaged 24.76 and once again being the sole winner took the match award.
The second half began with three 4-1 winners for West of England, Jamie Harvey beat Shane Passey, Lee Pearce won against Simon Pritchard and Zach Quinn accounted for Mark Jones. The next two games both went to a deciding leg with Jon Taylor and Craig Bishop just getting the edge on their respective opponents Reece Cook-Lucas and Eddie Austin. Completing the rout for the hosts was Jack MacKenzie who rounded off the 11-1 win with his 4-2 result over Chris Hill.
Going into Sunday’s games West of England were leading 16-2 but Sunday was a much better day for Shropshire as their ladies ‘A’ side replicated the previous day’s ladies result but this time it went in Shropshire’s favour. Jenna-Louise Ball opened up with a 3-2 win over Deb Adams, Deana Sheldon adding to Ball’s win when she accounted for Gail Dent with a 3-1 result. Michele Pritchard ensured her team mates of at the worst a draw when she beat Cath Brennan 3-0 and in the process earned herself the match award for her 20.04 average. The home team got their first stripe on the board in the fifth when Emma Bowles won 3-0 against Nicola Ball but the all-important fourth win was added to Shropshire’s tally in the penultimate game when Sarah Williams won 3-2 against Karen Brown. The last game saw Marie Riggs hand out a straight 3-0 defeat to Sam Lloyd to put the final score at 5-1 to Shropshire.
With the running score now standing at 17-7, still in West of England’s favour, it took only the opening two games of the men’s ‘A’ match to secure an overall victory for the weekend. Chris Hartrey kicked off the proceedings with a 4-2 win over Andy Vellender and with a 4-3 win for Ellis Radford against Ben Johnson, there was only pride and the men’s ‘A’ win to play for the away side. Andre Knox halved the arrears with his 4-3 win over Mike Davis only to see Lee Harris restore the home side’s two games buffer when he beat Chris Fox 4-2. The last two games of the half had 4-2 results, both going to the visitors as Josh Pickett won against Andy White and Adam Thackray beat Dan Raby to put the score level at 3-3 by the break.
As in the first half the hosts won the opening two games of the second session, Matt Jackson winning 4-2 against Mark Zambra and Alex Seymour having a 4-3 win over Andrew Jervis before Shropshire had their best run of the match winning three in a row. Sam Aitkens began the trio of wins when he beat Martyn Lansdown 4-1, Brett Cooper restoring parity when he won 4-2 against Marcus Knapman. The penultimate encounter saw Shropshire take the lead for the first time in the game when man of the match Richard Parker beat Simon Lloyd 4-0 and averaged 27.45 to give anchor man Kevin Harris the opportunity to secure a win. Unfortunately a win was not to be as Rich Griffee handed out a straight 4-0 defeat to Harris to put the final score level at 6-6.
The overall result for the weekend was a 23-13 win for West of England to see them leap-frog Shropshire in the promotional table to finish as runners-up with 217 points compared to Shropshire’s 207 which saw them finish third in the division. Despite losing promotion on the last day of their season, Shropshire should not be downhearted as in the eleven plus years I have been writing up their reports I believe this is the highest they have finished throughout that time and what a foundation they now have for them to build upon for their next campaign.
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