Leaders keep up march at top of table
ALL but one of the 13 men’s teams from clubs in and around our town were in North West Counties League action last Thursday, with precisely half enjoying victories - and in two cases, at the expense of fellow local sides.
Prestbury’s ‘Firsts’ were the team without a match, and their inactivity saw them drop a couple of places to ninth in Division Two East - while divisional companions, and table-toppers, Bollington 1 recorded an eighth straight win after hosting and beating second-tobottom Congleton 4-1. Rob Alcock, Rick Walters, Brigg Simpson and Rob Lamb were all triumphant for the ‘Bolly Firsts’.
There was no joy to be had for local representatives in the Third Division Central South, as Macclesfield 1 stayed 13th, and are now 20 points from safety, following a 5-0 defeat at home to Brooklands 1. And third-placed Bollington 2’s six-match winning run came to an end at The Northern 4, where Stuart Arnold and 15-year-old George Lomas earned consolation victories in the course of a 3-2 reverse.
In Division Three South-East, Prestbury 2, seven days after inching up a place to sixth with victory over Alsager’s promotionchasing ‘Firsts’, advanced two further positions following a win at struggling Alsager 2. Chris Dunkerley, Graeme English, Rick Bower, Keith Tolley and Mike Quartley ensured the 5-0 rout.
Fourth Division Central South leaders Prestbury 3 returned to winning ways, and extended their advantage at the top by 14 points, after Rich Curry and Andrew Worsley, together with teenagers Harry Mattocks (18) and Kaamil Bhatti (17), triumphed in a 4-1 home success against basement side Brooklands 4. But Prestbury’s ‘Fourths’
Gwere at the wrong end of the same scoreline, and slipped a place to eighth - with only Kevin Wynne’s straight-games victory to show for their trip to Moss Side 2.
One of the night’s two local ‘derbies’ took place in Division Four South-East at Bollin Grove, and saw third-placed Bollington 3 edge out Prestbury 5, eight positions lower, by the odd match in five - with the hosts, crucially, denied the services of a player who had been prevented from attending the match at short notice. Bollington . victories for Mark Collins and Tom
Grimes were supplemented by the decisive walkover-win at fifth-string, after Rob Thorneycroft and David Fitzpatrick earned Prestbury’s wins.
Bollington 4 chalked up a seventh successive victory to remain firmly in the second Division Five South-East promotion place. Father and son Will and 15-year-old Sam Jordan, as well as Phil Colville, all prevailed in straight games at bottom-ofthe-table Glossop 2.
Macclesfield’s Second and Third Teams, in fourth and fifth places, did battle at the town leisure centre - and that most local of derbies went according to form, as Russ Stagg, Ian Hill, Jean-Baptiste Laurens, Ollie Critchley and Simon Fisher earned a 5-0 win for the ‘Seconds’.
And eighth-placed Prestbury 6 earned a first win of 2020 by completing a ‘double’ over Marple 4. Dave Marwood, Chris
Murray and junior Jacob Pack (14) each won in four games to secure their side’s 3-2 home victory.
Three evenings earlier, in the Cheshire Ladies League, Prestbury 1 and Bollington had also earned impressive 3-2 wins against higherplaced opponents - namely, Knutsford Sports and Brooklands - only to slip one Second Division place apiece (to fifth and sixth, respectively) for their efforts.