Home side New Plough Inn edge out Smallshaws in tight contest
THE pick of the Hinckley Air Rifle League’s preChristmas matches came at the New Plough Inn where the visiting Smallshaws team shot first.
A patchy first half fol- lowed with Chris Slimm’s 27 and Rob Wainwright’s 29 combining with a trio of 24s whilst, apart from an opening 24, the response from the home team’s first half was comfortably bet- ter with Darren Statham’s 26, 27s from Paul Barwell and Mick Stocker, and Nigel Hill’s 29.
The visitors improved markedly after the half time break with 28s from Tom Williams and Jackie West, plus Bob West’s 29 but the resulting 189 and nine points weren’t quite enough as the home team totalled 192 and 14 points with the help of Tom Bray’s 29 and John Bray’s 30.
Each team in the Hinckley Phoenix – Sporting Lions encounter came out of their meeting with the result that mattered most to them; the home team coming out on top in the Yates Trophy match to retain top spot in that competition; the visitors winning the regular league match to maintain their title challenge.
The home team shot first but only managed disappointing totals of 183 and seven points despite 26s from Barry Wright and Geoff Herbert; 27s from Karen Bown and Ian Ratheram; and a 28 from Roxy Ratheram.
Other than Glen Dainter’s opening 29 the response from the Lions was decidedly below par with 26s from Jeanette Mulkeirins and Jim Lowe; 27s from Todd Astill and Lee Johnson; and a Karl Bunting 28 but despite these disappointments they finished on 188 and six points.
The Trojans took advantage of the Lions’ uncharacteristically low score to move back to the top of the league thanks to a comfortable win from their visit to the home of Ashby Road ‘B’.
The visitors started relatively slowly with Nigel Jackson’s 26 and Dave Brown’s 27 but the pace soon increased as Phil Hood’s 28 preceded the 29s of Rob Forman and Mark Smith, and the 28s of Will Chambers and Chris Sills.
Ashby Road’s response to the resulting 195 and 10 points started really strongly with an excellent 29 from Neil Price; this was followed by a couple of 26s from Craig Shuttleworth and Martyn Wood; and finished with a maximum 30 from Jon Storer.
However as good as this was and despite Alf Shore’s closing 28 the home side finished behind in both competitions with 189 and eight points.
The Hounds started well in their match against the visiting Ashby Road with a 27 from Richard Green; Roy Pritchard continued their good form with his 28; and Andy Mitchell closed their first half with a 26 but this was matched and very slightly exceeded by the visitors for whom Innes Droomer scored 27, Seamus Moore got a 29, and Lorraine White added a 26.
Paul Huddlestone’s 29 was the only highlight of the home team’s second half (hardly surprising as he was the only shooter remaining), taking their totals to 184 and seven points but these weren’t enough as Ashby Road managed 189 and nine points thanks to Richard White’s 27, Chris Rose’s 26, and Pete Finney’s 29.