First teams fly the flag with victories
LOCAL bragging rights were much to the fore between the First Teams of Bollington and Prestbury in a week that saw two local derbies take place, within three days of each other, in the Second Divisions of the Cheshire Ladies League and the North West Counties League for men’s sides.
Honours, in the event, were even - following a 3-2 away-victory apiece! The men’s match last Thursday went the way of Division Two East leaders Bollington 1, for whom Christian Ogden, Rob Alcock and Rick Walters were successful, against their sixth-placed hosts at Bollin Grove. Brian Lomas and Chris Dunkerley both won on the night for Prestbury’s ‘Firsts’.
Three evenings earlier, Prestbury Ladies had chalked up a fifth win running, and advanced a place to third, after Fran Taylor, Sarah Lonsdale and Helen Thaw all triumphed to get their team over the line at Bollington Leisure Centre. Annika Hall and junior player Bea Lomas (12) recorded straight-games consolation victories for the home side, who dropped one position to seventh.
Nine other men’s teams were in action six days ago - and half a dozen of those were successful, including Bollington’s ‘Seconds’, whose 5-0 thrashing of Marple 2 at home, with wins for Lyndon Stonier, 15-year-old George Lomas, Stuart Arnold, Martin Ogden and Mark Collins, kept them in fourth place. But Macclesfield 1, nine positions lower, suffered a 10th successive defeat - falling 4-1, despite Simon Evans’ success, at the town’s leisure centre against Grove Park 3.
In Division Three South-East, sixthplaced Prestbury 2 got back to winning ways with a 4-1 triumph at basement side Brooklands 3, thanks to victories by Rick
Bower, Mike Brauckmann, Mike Quartley and Paul Bartle.
And Fourth Division Central South tabletoppers Prestbury 3 maintained their momentum in defeating Moss Side 2 by the same scoreline at home - as Dave
Jones and Rob Thorneycroft, together with teenagers Harry Mattocks (18) and Rhys Asquith-Evans (16), all prevailed.
But divisional and club companions Prestbury 4 slipped a couple of positions to ninth after a 5-0 away-reverse against Bowdon 5.
Bollington 3, fourth in Division Four South-East, travelled up to SportCity and edged out, as well as closing the gap on, third-placed hosts City of Manchester 3 by the odd match in five - following wins by Tom Binder, Olli Stewart and Aldo Palazzo. And Prestbury 5 remain
11th after going down 4-1 at home to Grove Park 5 - with Alan Whiston the sole victor for the local ‘Fifths’.
With sixth-placed Macclesfield 3 enjoying a fixture-free week, and Prestbury 6, in eighth, unable to field a side for the away-trip against Glossop 2, only two Fifth Division South-East teams from in and around our town took to the courts - albeit successfully in each instance.
Bollington’s ‘Fourths’ kept their title hopes alive in second place, as Rob Harland, Tom Grimes and Phil Colville all won to see off Grove Park 6 at home 3-2. And Macclesfield 2 remain fourth after victories for Ollie Critchley, Russ Stagg, Ian Hill and Dave Birtwistle secured a 4-1 triumph at New Mills 2.
Back in the Cheshire Ladies League, Prestbury 2 leapt three places to fourth in Division Three (b) without exertion, as Village Hyde could not raise a team - mirroring the reverse fixture three months earlier, which had seen Prestbury’s ‘Seconds’ concede a walkover for the same reason.