Ashby Road B shoot season’s best total

THE PICK of the week’s encounters in the Hinckley Air Rifle League came at Hinckley Working Men’s Club, home of the Sporting Lions where the visitors were Taylor & Ayre.

The Lions had the better of the first half with Glen Dainter’s 30, Karl Bunting’s 29, Melanie Jenkins’ 28, and the 27s of Lee Johnson and Jeanette Mulkeirins trumping an Alyson Steele 29, and the 27s of Giles Headley and Paul Griffin for T&A.

But the visitors clawed back much of the deficit in the second half as Alison Smith’s 27, Phil Steele’s 29 and Darren Hicks’ 30 took them to 194 and 9 points.

The Lions struggled to match and looked to be losing in both competitions before a closing 29 from Todd Astill took their totals to 195 and 8 points.

Ashby Road B produced their best team performance of the season as they set their New Plough hosts targets of 201 and 14 points thanks to a Tom Middleton 30, the 29s of Neil Price, Kim Baker, Jon Storer and Mike Sansome, Martyn Woods’ 28, and Jeff Goodyer’s 27.

New Plough did their best to respond but fell well short with a 189 total that included John Bray’s 30, Nigel Hill’s 29, and the 27s of Steve Reynolds and Tom Bray, although they did come close in the Bernard Yates competition with 12 points.

Smallshaws gained only their second win of the season in a closely contested but low scoring match against the visiting Hinckley Phoenix.

The first halves were well matched, Barry Wright’s 29 and Karen Bown’s 27 for Phoenix being met with Rob Wainwright’s 29 and John Stevenson’s 27 for Smallshaws, but the visitors struggled after the break with the best of their second half being Ian Ratheram’s 28.

Neither of the resulting 187 and 9 points totals were enough as Smallshaws responded with a Simon Grewcock 27 and the 28s of Tom Williams and Bob West helping them to 189 and 11 points.

Victory at Ashby Road Sports Club helped Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club to hold on to second place in the league table. Bedworth’s 195 total, which included a Bill Bend 30, the 29s of Andrew Cryer and Andy Biddle, Jackie Bend’s 28, and the 27s of Mick Cryer and James Bend, was one of their lowest of the season but it was still ten more than their hosts could manage.

The notable individual performances from Ashby Road’s 185 came from Seamus Moore’s 28 and Pete Finney’s 30.

By way of consolation, Ashby Road managed to get their first Bernard Yates competition win thanks to a favourable 8-6 scoreline.

After the previous week’s heroics the Hounds returned to earth with a bump as their match on the Trojan’s home target resulted in a nine shot deficit.

The Hounds had a reasonable first half with a couple of 28s courtesy of Roy Pritchard and Andrew Mitchell but most of the rest of the team struggled so that Paul Huddlestone’s closing 30 left them on a disappointing 186 total.

The home side never looked likely to fall short with their 195 reply including 27s from Dave Brown and Darren Houghton, 28s from Phil Hood and Mark Smith, Leigh Hall’s 29 and Chris Sills’ match closing 30.

However the Hounds maintained their Yates Trophy ambitions with an 8-8 tie that keeps them in second place in that competition.