Seconds on the up after walkover tie

ONLY nine of the 13 men’s teams from clubs in and around our town actually took to the courts for North West Counties League matches last Thursday – although five of them were victorious by the evening’s end.

A sixth side, Macclesfield 2, also recorded a win, but without having to play, as opponents Crewe Vagrants 6 could not raise a team during half-term for the trip up to the town’s leisure centre - handing maximum points to, and cementing second spot in Division Five South for, Macc.

Play did go ahead as scheduled in the Second Division East, with contrasting fortunes for our two local representatives. Sixthplaced Prestbury 1 continued a sequence of alternating defeats and victories, by hosting and beating promoted Tollgate 1 - with Nathan Mayers, Mike Lomas, Adam Colebatch and Brian Lomas all triumphing in the course of a 4-1 success. But Bollington 1, who had won seven days previously, remain precariously above the drop-zone in 12th after going down 5-0 at table-topping Hyde 1.

At Third Division level, promotion hopefuls Prestbury 2 were without a match in the South-East section, but there was huge relief for Central South side Bollington 2 who prevailed 4-1 at home to fellow strugglers New Mills 1 - giving the ‘Bolly Seconds’ their first win since a walkovervictory for the season’s opening fixture, and lifting them two places to 10th. Lyndon Stonier, Ian Cottrill, Tom Binder and Neil Garner each won on the night.

Both Prestbury teams in Division Four Central South achieved 4-1 wins against sides battling relegation. The ‘Thirds’, in fifth place, brought to an end their mini-slump of two consecutive defeats by succeeding at home against David Lloyd Manchester 2, thanks to victories for Rich Curry, Mike Quartley, Andrew Worsley and Rupert Richards. And the Fourth Team moved up a couple of positions to 10th after seeing off Stockport 2 at Grove Park - with Kevin Wynne and Pat Hunter, together with juniors Harry Mattocks (17) and Rhys Asquith-Evans (14), triumphing.

The Fourth Division South pitted two sides from this area against each other, as Bollin Grove staged Prestbury 5’s ‘derby’ with in-form Macclesfield 1. The hosts, who had lost their previous three matches, were put to the sword for a fourth week running, and slipped a position to ninth after Macclesfield romped to a 5-0 victory - with James Douglas, Simon Evans, Martin Hall, Daz Glaser and Annika Hall ensuring the collective rout for their team, which now sits in fourth place following five straight wins.

Divisional companions Bollington 3 dropped a place to seventh after being edged out by the odd match in five at struggling Hyde 4. Rob Harland and 14-year-old Jack Walton both won for the ‘Bolly Thirds’, who had, however, and possibly critically, undertaken the journey up to Tameside with only four players - thereby forcing themselves to concede defeat at fifth string.

Fifth Division action was thin on the ground, given Macclesfield 2’s walkover and the absence of fixtures in the South and Central South sections for Bollington 4 and Prestbury 7.

Prestbury’s ‘Sixths’ - who this term ply their trade alongside the teams from Bolly and Macc - did play, but remain without a win, and rooted to the bottom of Division Five South, following a 5-0 reverse at Grove Park 5.

Three days earlier, in the Cheshire Ladies’ League, both Prestbury 1 and Bollington finished narrowly on the wrong end of 3-2 defeats by unbeaten Second Division opponents. Helen Thaw and - on her first-team debut - Jen Powell each won in the cause of fifth-placed Prestbury at home to AstraZeneca, while Annika Hall and Nicola Lyons each triumphed 3-1 for Bollington, in seventh, at Brooklands.

And in Division Three (b), Prestbury 2, following a pair of victories, are down to fourth after losing 5-0 against strong opponents at Bowdon 3 - who duly leapfrogged their visitors into second place as a result.