Trojans dominant league win over visiting Phoenix
THE Trojans maintained their lead at the top of the Hinckley Air Rifle League’s table thanks to a dominant win over the visiting Hinckley Phoenix but they just failed to maintain their one hundred percent record in the Yates Trophy as Phoenix did just enough to match their score in that.
Even that small consolation seemed unlikely on the evidence of the first half as the Karen Bown top-scored for visitors with her 27 whilst the remaining shooters scored just 3 points, due to Tony Overton’s 26 and Mark Haskins’ 24. By contrast the home side managed 6 points together with 28s from Dave Brown and Phil Hood, plus a Nigel Jackson 27. However, the Phoenix points haul improved after the break as Mick Edwards (25), Colin Rusted (26), Kurt Challifour (27) and Geoff Herbert (26) scored 2 apiece to take their team total to 11.
The only effect of Ian Ratheram’s closing 27 was to take their league score to a disappointing 184, a total easily surpassed by the host side who moved onto 195 and 11 points thanks to Leigh Hall’s 30; the 28s of Rob Forman and Chris Sills; and Will Chambers’ 26.
For the first eight rounds of matches the thrill of victory had been an unfamiliar sensation for the members of the Barwell based Smallshaws team. Thankfully for them that changed last week with victory over the high-flying Ashby Road and so this week they made the journey to the New Plough Inn looking to experience that sensation again.
The two teams looked to be evenly matched in the first half with Daniel Lakin and Glen Foxon both scoring 27s for the Plough whilst for Smallshaws there was a 28 from Rob Wainwright and a 26 from Robert Good. The home side did much better in a second half made up of Nigel Hill’s 27 and the 30s of John Bray and Tom Bray but, due to a shortage of shooters, they also had to count a 22 so the resulting totals of 188 and 10 points, whilst reasonable, were a little more vulnerable than perhaps they should have been. Smallshaws proved to be up to the challenge on both fronts, finishing on 190 and 12 points thanks to the 27s of Tom Williams and Jackie West, Bob West’s 28, and an excellent closing 29 from Jamie Slimm.
The outstanding team performance of the week came at the Hinckley Working Men’s Club home of the Sporting Lions where the visitors were Ashby Road ‘B.’ The visitors won the toss and decided to shoot first, putting together a decent first half total that included Andrew Cryer’s 29, Jon Storer’s 28, Rikki Hamersley’s 27, and Neil Price’s 26 but these efforts were totally eclipsed by the response from the Lions who could count 30s from Glen Dainter and Karl Bunting plus Todd Astill’s 29 and Jeanette Mulkeirins’ 28. The Ashby Road didn’t do enough to close the gap with the best scores being a 26 from Martyn Woods and Mike Sansome’s 29 so the resulting totals of 190 and 4 points were never going to be enough. This soon proved to be the case as the home side complete their totals of 199 and 9 points thanks to Melanie Jenkins’ 26, and the 28s of Alison Smith and Darren Hicks.