Teams struggle for numbers in latest Hinckley Air Rifle League fixtures
WEEK fourteen of Hinckley’s air rifle league programme brought some clarity to the top of the table as the Sporting Lions moved clear of the chasing pack thanks to a comfortable win against their Ashby Road ‘B’ guests.
The home team had the best of the first half with Lee Johnson’s opening 30 preceding the 29s of Glen Dainter, Melanie Jenkins and Karl Bunting.
Ashby Road had to make do with Neil Price’s 27 and Jon Storer’s 28 but the quality of the Lions’ shooting dropped precipitately after the break with their best second half score being Mollie Harris’ 26.
But the resulting 194 and 10 Yates Trophy points were enough to take both competitions as their guests finished on 185 and six points despite Martyn Wood’s 26, Alf Shore’s 27, and Mike Sansome’s 28.
Trojans slipped into second place as they could only manage to tie with their guests from the New Plough. The visitors had the better first half with a trio of 27s from Daniel Lakin, Nigel Hill and Darren Statham topped by John Bray’s 30 against a Dave Brown 27 and the 28s of Phil Hood and Rob Forman for the Trojans but the Plough’s second half was less accomplished as a solitary Tom Brat 27 left them on 186 and six points. Neither of these was quite enough for victory as Leigh Hall’s 28 helped them to 186 and 7 points.
Bedworth’s title challenge effectively ended with a heavy defeat at the Barwell home of Smallshaws. The home side shot first but couldn’t impose themselves on their guests with Bob West’s 29 and the 27s of Rob Wainwright, Jamie Slimm and Tom Williams being the only significant scores in the lacklustre 187 and nine point totals but this hardly mattered as the wins were always going to be theirs from the moment that Bedworth had turned up with just five shooters.
Four of those five shot really well but the 30s of Andrew Cryer and Bill Bend, Jackie Bend’s 29, and Robert Wagstaff’s 27 were nevertheless futile finishing as they did on just 139 and six points.
An unexpectedly depleted Taylor & Ayre welcomed the visiting Hounds to the Barn and were put in to shoot first. Alyson Steele opened the match for them with a fine 29 before Giles Headley went one better by recording a maximum 30, both scores meriting two points for the Bernard Yates Trophy, but these were the only scores of note in their otherwise disappointing performance which saw them finishing with totals of 179 and five points. The Hounds’ response saw first half 27s from Richard Greene and Andy Mitchell whilst Paul Huddlestone’s 29 and Roy Pritchard’s 27 enlivened the second half, helping them to deserved wins in both competitions thanks to their 186 and eight points total. New shooter Callum Garner’s 24 for the visitors is also worth mentioning; not because of its importance to the result, as it didn’t count; but because Callum decided to have a go despite sporting a broken collar bone!
The night’s other match, between Ashby Road and the visiting Hinckley Phoenix, wasn’t of any league significance as both teams are firmly embedded in the bottom half of the table, but for the visitors the result of the Yates Trophy match was of great interest as they remain the only unbeaten team in that competition. The first half efforts from the two teams were pretty even with Phoenix’s Barry Wright and Samantha Haskins scoring 28 and 27 respectively whilst Ashby Road responded with 27s from Paul Holyland and Pete Finney, leaving the teams with four apiece in the points competition.
The best individual scores in the Phoenix second half were Luke Haskins’ 27 and Ian Ratheram’s 29, contributing to their 188 total but the rest of the second half did well enough to take their points total to an unbeatable 12 points.
The remaining Ashby Road shooters; Seamus Moore, Innes Droomer and Lorraine White; all scored 28 giving them 190 and victory in the regular match, but only 9 points in the Yates Trophy match, allowing Hinckley Phoenix to remain unbeaten at the top of the table.