Hinckley Air Rifle League: Bedworth battle hard but fail to tame the Lions
THE third placed team in the Hinckley Air Rifle League, Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club, travelled to second placed Sporting Lions knowing each of their six shooters would need to perform at their very best to have any chance of taking the win.
The Bedworth attempt started well with a 28 from Mick Cryer and subsequent scores of 29, 27 and 29 from Andrew Cryer, Jackie Bend and James Bend giving them a decent first half performance.
But unfortunately for them the response from the Lions was outstanding. Glen Dainter opened with a 30; Todd Astill, Karl Bunting and Jeanette Mulkeirins all added 29s; and Lee Johnson closed the half with a 28.
Bedworth’s solitary second half shooter, Bill Bend, couldn’t have done any better as he scored his fifth successive league 30 but the resulting 194 proved inadequate as Melanie Jenkins’ second half 28 helped the Lions move to the top of the table thanks to their 198 total.
A relatively low score meant Trojans slipped to second place in the table despite an easy win against the visiting Ashby Road.
The home side shot first, starting well with a 28 from Rob Forman but their high scores came less frequently than in previous matches, leading them to finish on 191, their lowest score of the season thus far, the other scores of note being Mark Smith’s 27, Dave Brown’s 28, and the 29s of Phil Hood and Leigh Hall. This proved far too good for Ashby Road who struggled to just 180 with only Pete Finney’s 29 and Seamus Moore’s 28 breaking their low scoring pattern.
Ashby Road ‘B’ took of advantage of Ashby Road’s loss to supplant them in the table’s fifth spot thanks to a win against the away Hinckley Phoenix team.
The best individual scores the home side had to offer were Martyn Wood’s 27 and the 28s of Craig Shuttleworth, Jon Storer and Mike Sansome, helping them to a slightly disappointing 188. But this proved enough for the win as Phoenix replied with a 185 total that included Ian Ratheram’s 28 and the 27s of Samantha Haskins and Karen Bown.
The Hounds moved off the bottom of the table thanks to a four shot win at the New Plough Inn. The visitors had a particularly strong first half with Richard Green’s 29 preceding the 27s of Roy Pritchard, Andrew Mitchell and Brian Allen, and whilst the second half couldn’t match this for depth, Richard Allen’s 27 and Paul Huddlestone’s 30 did allow them to set their hosts a challenging 193 target.
The Plough shooters responded reasonably well but couldn’t do quite enough as John Bray’s 30, Nigel Hill’s 28, and the 27s of Paul Barwell, Jake Brotherhood and Steve Reynolds helped them to their 189 reply.
There was a similar result from the meeting between Smallshaws and Taylor & Ayre where the home side shot first. On this occasion neither team shot well in the first half, T&A’s Giles Headley getting the only score of note with his 28, but they both improved after the break.
For Smallshaws this improvement was small, Tom Williams and Jackie West managing 28s, whilst T&A did better as a Norman Hall 27, Alison Smith’s 28 and Darren Hicks’ 30 put them on the right side of a 191-185 score line.