New Plough earn draw in Yates Trophy but lose league match
THE closest results from the latest round of matches in the Hinckley Air Rifle League’s came at the New Plough Inn, where the visitors were Ashby Road ‘B.’
The travellers won the toss and decided to shoot first with Neil Price leading the way with his 29. Craig Shuttleworth’s 27 and Kim Baker’s 26 followed, after which Jon Storer maintained his strong form this season with a maximum 30. The reply from the New Plough shooters wasn’t quite as accomplished but it was good enough to keep them in contention at the half way point with the 27s of Daniel Lakin and Nigel Hill preceding Darren Statham’s 26 and Glenn Foxon’s excellent 29. Ashby Road’s second half performed very similarly to their first with Martyn Wood’s 27 and Jeff Goodyer’s 26 supporting Mike Sansome’s 29, all combining to give them 194 in the regular match and 14 point in the Yates Trophy. The second half from the Plough started slowly but a 30 from third shooter John Bray left their final shooter, Tom Bray, needing a 30 to tie both competitions. His attempt started well with four successive fives but unfortunately his fifth shot failed to ring the bell. However, whilst this meant that the regular match was lost, a final shoot bell did at least mean that he scored the two points that gave his team a draw in the Yates Trophy, his 29 taking the Ploughmen to 193 and 14 points.
Ashby Road shot first in their match against their Smallshaws guests, getting off to a strong start thanks to Richard White’s 28 but sadly the next three shooters were less successful, and they only returned to the desired standard with Pete Finney’s closing 27. The reply from Smallshaws started slowly but they quickly improved as the rest of their first half consisted of the 26s of Bob Wainwright and Robert Good, and the 28s of Michael Stephens and Jamie Slimm.
A weakened Ashby Road team, missing three of their best shooters, knew that they would have to improve in the second half if they were to have any chance of winning and it briefly looked like they might as Seamus Moore opened the second half with another 28 but their scoring rate dropped precipitately after this and they finished on a disappointing 182 and 7 points. The visitors took full advantage of their hosts shortcomings to take their first wins of the season so far as Tom Williams’ 28, Bob West’s 27, and Jackie West’s 26 took them to 189 and 11 points.
The Trojans increased their lead at the top of the league table thanks to a comfortable victory over the visiting Hounds team. However, on the evidence of the first half, the scale of their win was by no means guaranteed with the home side trailing by very little at the break. The Hounds could count a couple of 25s plus an Adam Padamsey 27 and a 29 from Giles Headley whilst the visitors could also count two 25s plus a 26 from Dave Brown, and the 29s of Rebecca Horsler and Phil Hood.
Unfortunately for the visitors, whilst their second half scoring worsened; the only scores of note being Richard Green’s 26 and Paul Huddlestone’s 28; their opponents improved. A 26 from Will Chambers combined with Mark Smith’s 27, the 29s of Rob Forman and Leigh Hall, and a match closing 30 from Chris Sills took their match scores to 199 and 12 points as opposed to 184 and 7 points for the Hounds.