Cup holders Southport out of Anon running
LAST year’s Anon Cup winners Southport A are out, after conceding their tie away to Crosby D, as a result of player unavailability making their task virtually impossible.
Division One leaders Princes St A successfully continued their quest for a clean sweep of honours, after brushing aside third placed Argyle B, 0-6.
Michael Stewart with two wins along with a win apiece from Matty Wilson, Colin Turner and Ray Hibbs made it an early finish for all concerned.
Princes St B also made it through to the semi-finals with a 2-6 victory at an understrength Argyle D, who were without both Phil Robinson and Ula Kuzcek.
Wins from Les Dodd and Lewis Hible had delayed the visitors ambitions, but after a fine double amongst others, from captain Josh Taylor, Mick Winder finally put the seal on the win.
Having recently lost heavily in the league to their high flying C team, Crosby B welcomed back number one Rhys Davies for this one, and he duly obliged by putting his side ahead with a three straight win over opposite number Nick Wilson.
That was not for long, as first Tom Miller, Felix Anderson and then Ciaran Lynch, put the C team deservedly 3-1 in front.
Rhys then re-entered the fray pairing up with Andrew Legge to pull it back to 3-2, before Francois Rafferty and Mark Davies fought back from 2-1 down against Tom and Ciaran, 5-11,10-12, to tie it up at 3-3.
Rhys then soon completed the turnaround with a three straight victory over Tom, which was then improved on by Francois, a four game success against Nick made it 3-5, and with the countback score of games won standing at 12-17, the C team now needed a 6-0 return from the last two encounters.
Up next was Felix to face Andrew, who after taking the first two games 9-11, 5-11, became the B team hero, as now the tie was theirs.
It didn’t matter a jot that Felix took the next three games because with a final score of 4-5 (1519 on countback), Crosby B had completed the semi final lineup.
A young Crosby F side made Argyle E work the hardest for their 7-3 Anon Plate home win, Crosby’s Josh Tomlinson being the pick of the away side gaining two very good wins.
But captain Ray Clarke and Adrian Hyland, both with a full quota of wins ensured Argyle progressed without too much difficulty.
With the result of the tie between Princes St C and Holy Trinity A still to be confirmed, there were no upsets in the two remaining contests.
Second division Southport C eased past third division Argyle G without conceding a point, whilst Princes St E also from the second division overcame their F team from the 3rd, with an 8-1 scoreline.
Southport C (they were Argyle H last season) the holders of the Gunson
Cup are out. They travelled the short distance to Princes St to take on their D team, and with both teams mid table in the second division the holders started the evening off with a modest 42pts award, and boy didn’t they need it! Southport number one Liam Ward looked to have given his side the edge by winning both his contests well against Chris Foley and Colin Fyles early on with an aggregate points tally of 67-109. Then with Ian Lunt and Karen Gibson virtually doing a similar job with wins over Ryan and Paul Hesketh totalling 10671, the holders had in fact improved their position with a lead of 49pts at halfway.
But after Ian had first clawed back 33pts of that deficit in superb fashion against Lee Hesketh, Chris kept that momentum going with a 50-35 success over Paul.
Two contests to go and by the end of the seventh, the home side were now in front by 16pts, thanks to Karen’s 52-35 win against Ryan, and when Colin rounded off a super night’s table tennis with a 23pt win over Lee, then the holders were out and Princes St D were most certainly in the semis with a deserved 384-345 victory.
Crosby C did have something to cheer about, a 371-410 win at Waterloo A where Felix Anderson was their star turn.
There would be no chance of another meeting with their B team, as they conceded their match, also citing player unavailability against Princes St A who remain in contention for that clean sweep.
Argyle E from the second tier completed a great week by winning through to their second semi final after what turned out to be a comprehensive win over first division Princes St B.
Even without the 62pt award they would have gone through, finishing 100 pts to the good at the end. I’ve been told the Handicap Committee have made a note!
Just the two ties were played in the Gunson Plate, as those between Carlton and Crosby D, and Crosby E verses Princes St E were postponed because of clashes with other ties.
Argyle A got the better of their C team overturning an initial 104pt handicap to go on and secure their progression with a 368-401 victory.
Finally, second division promotion contenders Princes St C could regard themselves a little let down by just a 10pt advantage against third in the top tier Argyle B.
It proved not to be enough as they succumbed by 61pts at the end with a final score of 337-398.
Back to league action next week, all information can found at southport. ttleagues.com