Trojans take the honours to move into next round of the cup
HINCKLEY Phoenix made the short journey to the Greyhound home of the Trojans knowing that a win in the second round of the Norman Illiffe Cup would be rewarded by a trip to the same venue in the semi-final, the Hounds having already gained a place in the next round, beneficiaries of the withdrawal of the Bedworth team from the Hinckley Air Rifle League.
The visitors won the toss and decided to open the shooting, proceeding to put together a teams gaining 103 points each.
It was at this point that Hinckley started to show its strength in depth, with St Martin’s pupil Lewis Cotterell breaking two of the all-time competition records in the 50 metre breaststroke and 50 metre freestyle.
As the events went by, the young Hornets team sensed that a victory was possible and the decent first half performance with Tony Overton’s opening 26.1 followed successively by a 28.1 from Samantha Haskins, Karen Bown’s 27.1, Luke Bown’s 26, and Craig Bown’s 27. The response from the Trojans was marginally lower with
Nigel Jackson’s opening 25 preceding Dave Brown’s 26, the 27.1s of Richard Sanders and Rob Forman, and Leigh Hall’s 28.3 but the visitors failed to capitalise on the slight advantage with the best scores in their second half being Geoff noise on poolside got louder from both swimmers and the supporters. After the final event, victory was announced - Hinckley had won by 22 points.
Hinckley Hornets head coach, Martin Lynch, said: “Well apart from being the loudest gala I have ever been to, it was the most exciting one as well.
“I have been to two finals in
Herbert’s 26.1, and the 25.1s of Kurt Challifour and Colin Rusted. The second half shooting from the Trojans started strongly thanks to Mark Smith’s 29.3 but whilst the remaining shooters scored a little less than normal, the 25.1 of Roger Sills, the last six years and, in those, it was clear early on that we were not going to win. For this one every child worked so hard for the team and fought for every point and I am proud of each and every one of them.
“They have made a little bit of history for the club. Swimming can be a tough sport and I hope they look back on this final with
Chris Sills’ 26.2, and the 27.2 of Will Chambers took the Trojans to a comfortable 191.2 to 185.5 victory.
The visitors opened in the match between the Sporting Lions and the travelling Ashby Road and got off to a decent start thanks to Alison Finney’s 28.2 but even though this was backed up by the 27.1s of David White and Pete Finney the response from the home side’s first half very much put the writing on the wall. Glen Dainter’s opening 29.3 was followed by Todd Astill’s 29.5 and a near flawless 30.5 from Karl Bunting. The pace dropped a little over their remaining first half shooters as Jeanette Mulkeirins added a 26 and Alison Smith closed the half with her 28.2 but even this was too good for Ashby Road who’s second half included a 27.3 from Lewis Raine and Seamus Moore’s 27.2. This took them to an uncompetitive total of 187.0, well short of their hosts who finished on 197.9 thanks to the 26.2 of Melanie Jenkins and Taryn Cockerill’s closing 28.2.
Their reward for this fine performance will be a semi-final meeting against Ashby Road ‘B’ who easily won their match against the visiting Smallshaws team. Ashby Road’s first half was something of a mixed bag with a couple of 24.1s at the low end; a Craig Shuttleworth 26.2 in the middle; and the 28.2s of Neil Price and Jon Storer at the high end. There was a similar pattern to the reply from Smallshaws, the major difference being that their scores were lower across the board. Simon Grewcock’s 27.1 and Tom Williams’ 27.2 occupied the high-score slots but with a 22 and a couple of 24s from the remaining shooters, the break was reached with the home side with a strong advantage. They built on this with a second half that included Martyn Wood’s 26.3 and Mike Sansome’s 28.2, the resulting 186.3 being far too good for the visitors who, despite a second half 26.1 from Chris Rose, finished on just 172.4. great fondness.
“We are lucky to train at one of the best pools in the Midlands and I think that Hinckley’s success in swimming and water polo in the last three years since the new Leisure Centre opened is no coincidence, and I would like to thank Hinckley & Bosworth Council and Places Leisure for all their support.”