Sporting Lions put the home Hounds in their place in league match

THE most emphatic win of the week in the Hinckley Air Rifle League came from the visit of the table topping Sporting Lions to the home of the Hounds.

Put in by their guests, the home side started slowly with none of their first three shooters bettering 25 and although the subsequent shooters did better; Paul Huddlestone’s 29 being followed by Leanne Simpson’s 28, and the 26s of Richard Green and Richard Allen; the resulting 182 team total never looked like being enough, particularly after a Lions’ first half made up of Todd Astill’s 30; the 29s of Glen Dainter, Jeanette Mulkeirins and Taryn Cockerill; and Karl Bunting’s 28.

Almost inevitably the visitors’ scoring rate reduce in the second half but a 27 from Melanie Jenkins and Pete Dainter’s 26 were enough to take them to an excellent 198 and victory by 16.

This result left second placed Trojans needing to win their match at Hinckley Phoenix in order to keep their points deficit to one but, despite the disparity between their league positions, the home side were clearly in a mood to make this as difficult as possible. The first half definitely went the way of Phoenix with all five shooters putting in notable performances with 26s from Tony Overton and Luke Bown; 27s from Barry Wright and Karen Bown; and a 28 from Samantha Haskins whereas the Trojans had to make do with a couple of 25s, a Nigel Jackson 26, and a 29 from Phil Hood. The Phoenix second half couldn’t maintain the consistently high scoring but Colin Rusted’s 26, Kurt Challifour’s 27, and Ian Ratheram’s 29 were enough to take them to a reasonably good 190 total, their first time into the 190s this season.

This was well within range for the remaining Trojans shooters but none of them did quite enough as the 27s of Mark Smith and Leigh Hall, and Chris Sills’ 28 left them three short of their hosts on 187.

In the season thus far Taylor & Ayre have been either very good, with scores in the high 190s and even 200s, or quite bad, scoring in the mid 180s. The determining factor has undoubtedly been which of their shooters were available on the night and this week’s visit to Ashby Road ‘B’ was no exception; with many of their best shooters absent for work or other reasons they were very definitely at the lower end of their range.

This is to take nothing away from Ashby Road who shot really quite well, particularly in their first half as Jon Storer’s 29 just beat the 28s of Neil Price, Craig Shuttleworth and Martyn Wood to the top scorer spot. The second half 27s of Mike Sansome and Alf Shore, plus the 26s of Kim Baker and Jeff Goodyer helped them to set a 193 total that proved well beyond the capabilities of T&A who, despite Giles Headley’s 29, Paul Griffin’s 28, Steve Vincent’s 27, and the 26s of Aly Steele and Phil Steele, finished on just 182.

The visit of Ashby Road to Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club afforded the home team an immediate opportunity to gain revenge for the previous week’s very close cup loss but this wasn’t helped by their having just seven shooters, meaning that every shot would have to be counted.

The problems this posed became immediately apparent as they opened the match with a 22 but after this initial blip they soon improved and thanks to the 27s of Mick Cryer, Jackie Bend and Bill Bend plus Andrew Cryer’s 28, Klaus Baker’s 29, and James Bend’s 30 they were able to set their guests a reasonably challenging score to beat of 190.

Alison Finney’s 29 gave Ashby Road’s reply an excellent start but with the exception of Lewis Raine’s 27 the rest of the first half struggled. Thank- fully for the visitors the second half was able to take up the slack as Neil Smith’s 26 was followed by the 27s of Lorraine White, David White and Pete Finney, and the 28s of Chris Rose and Seamus Moore, to give them the victory with 193.

Smallshaws moved out of the table’s bottom two thanks to their two shot victory over the travelling New Plough. The teams reached the half time break more or less level; for Smallshaws there were a Bob Wainwright 26, Rob Wainwright’s 27, and Tom Williams’ 28 whilst the New Plough scored three successive 26s, courtesy of Daniel Lakin, Paul Barwell and Darren Statham, before Tom Bray chipped in his 28; but the home side had the better second half with a couple of 28s from Simon Grewcock and Bob West against the 27s of John Bray and Nigel Hill for the Plough, all of which put Smallshaws on the positive side of a 186-184 score-line.