Sporting Lions are still on top of the league despite defeat

THE Sporting Lions held on to top spot in the Hinckley Air Rifle League, despite falling to their first defeat of the season against the visiting Trojans.

After being put in by their hosts the Trojans had a patchy first half with a couple of 25s plus Nigel Jackson’s 26, Dave Brown’s 28, and Phil Hood’s 29 whereas the Lions showed much greater consistency to reach the half way point well ahead thanks to the 27s of Lee Johnson, Melanie Jenkins and Karl Bunting; and the 29s of Todd Astill and Jeanette Mulkeirins. However a substantial second half improvement from the visitors, with a Leigh Hall 30, Chris Sills’ 29, Rob Forman’s 28, Mark Smith’s 27, and Will Chambers’ 26 helped them to an excellent 197 team score.

As good as this was it was still well within range for the Lions but despite Glen Dainter’s 28, and the 26s of Taryn Cockerill and Mollie Harris, they finished four short on 193.

The closest result of the night came at the Barwell home of Smallshaws where the visitors were Hinckley Phoenix but the evidence of the first half suggested that the match would be decidedly one sided.

The visitors had a strong half, Barry Wright’s opening 29 being followed by the 26s of Tony Overton, Sam Haskins and Karen Bown, before Luke Bown closed for them with his 27, whereas the best offered by Smallshaws were the 27s of Bob Wainwright and Jamie Slimm.

However the Phoenix second half struggled a little, the only scores of note being Craig Bown’s 26 and Ian Ratheram’s 27, and so they scored a slightly disappointing 187.

This gave Smallshaws a very real chance of coming away from the match with something to show for their night’s efforts but sadly for them they finished just short, closing on 186 thanks to bob West’s 29, Tom Williams’ 27, and Simon Grewcock’s 26.

The team from the New Plough made the trip to Bedworth Ex Servicemen’s Club hoping to bring an end to a run of losses stretching back to the start of the season. However the evidence of the first half made this seem unlikely as the best they had to offer was a pair of 26s from Mick Stocker and Darren Statham whilst Bedworth could count the 28s of Mick Cryer and Andrew Cryer plus the 29s of James Bend and Jackie Bend. The visitors did much better in their second half with a Steve Reynolds 26 and the 28s of Tom Bray, Nigel Hill and John Bray but the resulting 187 was nowhere enough for victory as Bedworth closed the match with Klaus Baker’s 28 and Bill Bend’s 30 to finish ten ahead on 197.

The Hounds played host to Ashby Road ‘B’ at their Greyhound home, hoping to return to winning ways against a slightly depleted Ashby Road team. However, any such hopes were rapidly dented as the visitors put together a strong first half that included the 26s of Neil Price and Kim Baker, Craig Shuttleworth’s 28, and Jon Storer’s 30, and when the Hounds responded with just Callum Garner’s 29 and Roy Pritchard’s 26 the break was reached with the visitors definitely in the ascendancy. Ashby Road’s second half did slightly less well with the 26s of Alf Shore and Jeff Goodyer, and Martyn Wood’s 27 but the resulting 189 total proved too much for the Hounds who, with the help of Richard Green’s 27 and Paul Huddlestone’s 29, finished on 185.

The result of the match between Ashby Road and their guests from Taylor & Ayre never seemed in doubt once the visitors turned up with just seven shooters.

Ashby Road did reasonably well to score a 190 total made up of Pete Finney’s 29; the 27s of Innes Droomer, Lewis Raine, Neil Smith, David White and Seamus Moore; and Richard White’s 26, and this proved too much for T&A who finished on just 176 despite Paul Griffin’s 28 and the 26s of Aly Steele, Giles Headley and John Orton.