Sporting Lions win Gordon Smith Trophy and take step closer to league title
THE Hinckley Air Rifle League’s round-robin cup competitions split the league into two with the top five teams shooting for the Gordon Smith Cup and the bottom five teams competing for the Paynes Cup.
As with all the league’s cup competitions, the two cups are shot on a clean bull basis with a clean shot scoring 5.1 whilst a clipped bull scores the more normal five.
The most significant meeting in the first round of Smith Cup matches came at the Greyhound Inn where the Trojans played host to the Sporting Lions.
The Trojans were a little below par, finishing on 190.1 thanks to a 27 from Will Chambers, Dave Brown’s 27.1, the 27.2s of Leigh Hall and Chris Sills, and the 28.2s of Phil Hood and Rob Forman.
Glen Dainter’s 29.3 gave the Lions a strong start to a strong first half that also included Karl Bunting’s 29.4, Lee Johnson’s 29.1, and the 27s of Todd Astill and Jeanette Mulkeirins, and whilst their second half couldn’t match this level of scoring a 28.1 from Melanie Jenkins did take them to a comfortable win with a 195.0 total.
The Trojans and Sporting Lions took the opportunity offered by this match to hold their long postponed regular league match, the result of which could have a decisive effect on the outcome of the league title.
Rather than shooting two separate matches the teams agreed to employ the innovative approach of using the scores from their Smith Cup match to also stand for the league match,.
The only difference being that the clean bulls were ignored for this aspect of their meeting.
Giving the size of the Lions’ win in the cup match this obviously meant that they also won the league match, this time by a margin of 194 to 189.
But the Trojans had the consolation of winning the Bernard Yates trophy match by eight points to six.
The league result put the Lions top of the table but this doesn’t mean that the title is definitely theirs as there is still one more match to be decided, the result of which could yet displace them.
As important as the results from the meeting between the Trojans and the Sporting Lions were, the tensest finish came from the night’s other Smith Cup match between Ashby Road and Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club.
The home side shot first, having a mostly forgettable first half, the only highlights being Lewis Raine’s 26.1 from his first ever match and Seamus Moore’s 27.1 but they improved markedly after the break as Paul Holyland’s 29.1 and Pete Finney’s 29.3 helped them to a 188.8 total.
Bedworth’s response started slowly with a couple of 25s but Jackie Bend’s 27 together with James Bend’s 30.3 and Robert Wagstaff’s 27.3 left final man, Bill Bend, needing to score 29.1 or better to take the win.
His first five shots all rang the bell and whilst his last shot was wide of the mark he did manage to score the one clean bull to score the 29.1 that gave his team 188.9.
The highest score on the night came from the Paynes Cup match between the New Plough and their guests, the Hounds.
The visitors shot first, performing reasonably well to put together a 188.4 total that included Paul Huddlestone’s 29.3 and the 28.2s of Andy Mitchell and Richard Allen.
However this was well short of what was required as the Plough team followed Daniel Lakin’s excellent opening 29.3 with a John Bray 29.5, the 28.2s of Nigel Hill and Tom Bray, Mick Stocker’s 27.1, and Steve Reynolds’ 27, to finish on an outstanding 195.4.
The final match also ended in a win for the home team with Smallshaws beating the visiting Ashby Road ‘B’ by just over two shots.
Smallshaws shot consistently through the team, finishing with a 192.3 total that included Rob Wainwright’s 27.1, the 27.2s of John Stevenson and Jackie West, Tom Williams’ 28.1, and the 28.3s of Jamie Slimm and Bob West. Ashby Road’s response included the best score of the night, Jon Storer’s 29.4, and there were some decent supporting scores, particularly Jeff Goodyer’s 27.1 and the 28.1s of Martyn Wood and Mike Sansome.
However the remainder weren’t quite up to scratch and they finished on 190.1.