It was cup week for the Four Oaks and District League, the preliminary round of their Brian Goodman Cup. There were no major shocks from the round the biggest winners being White Lion, Old Oscott WMC and Deer’s Leap who in turn had comfortable 8-1 wins over The Leopard, Pint Pot Arrows and Deer’s Leap Stags.
Plough and Arrows, Pint Pot Nomads, Sutton Sports and Oscott Social Reds also had clear cut wins, beating their respective opponents, Oscott Social Clarets, Erdington Arrows, Anvil Nomads and Plough and Barrows 7-2.
Best fight back of the round came from division three leaders Drakes Drum, who after trailing to fellow division opponents Bishop Vesey 4-1 staged a monumental comeback to win 5-4. Other winners from the round were Pint Pot Flights, Old Oscott Arrows and Sportsmans Rest.
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In the premier division of the Sheldon and District Winter League, Sheldon Dukes suffered their first defeat of the campaign when they lost their home tie with league leaders Olton RBL by a massive 8-1. The Dukes as a result of their loss have dropped from second to fourth in the table.
Pavilions have lost pole position in division one after going down for the first time in four games, a 6-3 reversal away to New Firs Flights. Pavilions drop to second place while New Firs move up one place to fourth. In the same division Holy Souls chalked up their first win of the season, a close 5-4 success away to Yardley Arms.
Another team to lose their number one status is former division two leaders Custard House, who have fallen to second place after a 6-3 defeat at Ridgemere Social who have moved up one place to third. Taking over the top spot is Castle Vale Residents Association following their convincing 8-1 win at Maggies.
No change at the top of division three at the top two teams, George V and Centurion both recorded 6-3 wins, George at home to Crown Farthings and Centurion away to Shirley RBL Misfits. Custard House Flights 5-4 home win over Shirley RBL Flights was their first win of the season.
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The finals of the Doubles and Triples Knockouts were on the fixture card for the Pip Club League. Taking the doubles title with a final win over Sam Whittaker and Simon Caswell (Bolehall Swifts) were the Dolphin pairing of Phil Turner and Mark Martin.
Losing semi finalists were, Kevin Clubley and Brian Bird from the Dolphin and Jimmy Williams and Nigel Groves who represented J.W.Belgrave Club.
The triples title went to Mick Smith, Daz Jones and Gary Padmore from the Red Lion, with Trevor Barrs, Richard Baker and Alan Carter from Sports Bar finishing as runners up.
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The Tamworth Sports Bar League staged the semi finals of their League Cup. League leaders Three Horse Shoes handed out a 7-0 whitewash to their opponents, middle of the table Wigginton. In the other last four game third placed St John’s Club chalked up a 4-1 win against bottom of the table Session Bar.
On the league front the latest fixtures saw Three Horse Shoes consolidate their top placing with a 6-1 home win against Globe ‘A’, while their nearest rivals Sports Bar 180 won 5-2 away to Session Bar.
In the players league just two players remain undefeated, Mark Tomlinson (Three Horse Shoes) and Trevor Barrs (Sports Bar 180), they have a three points lead over the rest of the field.
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Birmingham’s rising 21 years old star Matt Gallett took part in the PDC Youth World Championships qualifier last Sunday at Riley’s, Wolverhampton. Matt was unlucky not to have gained automatic entry to the last 64 as he was ranked 33 and the top 28 went through. Nevertheless Matt gained his entry the hard way by playing in the qualifier and actually winning it from a field of sixteen players.
In the first round he defeated his friend Ryan Herrington 4-3 he then with further 4-0 and 4-1 wins progressed to the final where he came up against Sam Hamilton, whom he accounted for with a straight 4-0 result to become the sole player to represent Birmingham in the finals.
Matt will travel down to Crawley to play in the finals this coming Friday, I’m sure all local players wish him all the very best of luck.
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