Shield shock ends Tarleton record bid

THE dream of achieving the perfect season for Tarleton’s fourth team has ended, as they suffered their first loss in all competitions with a narrow

7-5 defeat to Southport VI in the quarter-finals of the St. John’s Shield.

This still means that the only team to accomplishment the rarest achievement in the ‘Master Lock & Safe’ Southport and District Badminton

League of winning every match in every competition in one season is still Woodvale VII from the 2004/05 season.

With the league taking a break this week, attention turned to the last eight of all the handicap knockout competitions. This saw some teams playing in more than one match this week. One of them was Tarleton IV.

This once again meant their perfect record in every competition was on the line. Not once, but twice. Sadly for them, the dream of the quadruple remains a dream. A strong start by the underdogs saw Southport VI already on the verge of victory. But an unexpected Tarleton comeback made for a tense and climatic finish. In the end, despite the best efforts of staying in the match, a 30-29 win for Southport’s Abdullah Albeedh and Tommy Nguyen over Chris Hurley and Mike

Hill meant they were knocked out.

Southport’s semi-final opponents will be fourth division Hesketh Bank II. They were pushed to the limit against fifth division mid-table side Formby Methodist. With a ‘+8’ handicap advantage for the lower ranked side in each match, Hesketh Bank knew that unforced errors would be heavily punished.

Wins in all three men’s doubles kept Hesketh Bank in the match to force an extra set of mixed doubles, and a 30-19 win for Andrew Dolman and Sarah Cowler over Michel Lampereur and Jane Owen sealed Hesketh Bank’s place.

In other action in the St. John’s Shield, there was an all St. Cuthberts encounter between their first and second teams. With the ‘+10’ handicap advantage to the second team keeping the match tight, we looked on course for another one set decider in the mixed doubles. But wins in all three women’s doubles matches for the second team did enough to confirm the 7-5 victory.

They now move on to face a Crosby II, who were given a fortunate walkover against Southsands IV.

Despite that set-back for Tarleton IV, they remain on course for a Watkinson Trophy title, as they battled past Churchtown III by the slender margin of four points. After claiming a large chunk of points in their first few matches, it looked as if it would be smooth sailing for the newly crowned fifth division champions. But some ruthless performances by Churchtown kept the contest finely poised. However, it seemed that that initial surge by Tarleton ended up being as the 210 points handicap confirmed a 404-400 victory.

They now move on to face fourth division promotion challengers St. Cuthberts, who upset the apple cart with an astonishing 163 points victory. Despite St. Cuthberts being from a lower division than their opponents, the strength in their experience and partnerships showed as they won almost every set available to give a 73 points lead before even finding out what the handicap was. With an additional 90 points awarded to the fourth division outfit, they go into the final four with high confidence and the possibility of the Watkinson Trophy heading to the St. Cuthberts for the first time in the club’s history.

In the other quarter-final matches, the handicap disadvantage proved too much for first division sides West End Park and Crosby as they each fell to lower ranked opposition. A 34 points win for Hesketh Bank II as well as 48 points victory for third division side

Woodvale V now means that there will be no first or second representative in the semifinals.

There were a few tense battles in the quarter-finals of the Fleetwood Hesketh Shield, including two that went to a deciding extra set. One saw Woodvale’s first team avoid a scare against their own second team. With the lower-ranked side making the most of their ‘+10’ handicap advantage, Woodvale II were causing a whole lot of issues for their first team to deal with.

But whenever the second team got a lead, their opponents would always answer back. So with nothing separating the sides by the end of it, an extra set of mixed doubles was required to determine a winner. That ended with a 30-26 win for first team pair Jared Matthew and Charlotte Buckingham over Peter Roberts and Lauren Oates.

That result now moves them into a semi-final bout with West End Park, who edged out 7-5 winners over Southport II. Wins in all three of the women’s doubles proved to be the deciding factor in West End Park’s win after Southport took an initial lead after the mixed doubles.

Also progressing was

Victoria Hall, who came from behind to defeat Churchtown’s first team 7-6. With the first division leaders looking in control, the strength in Victoria Hall’s depth showed in the latter stages and a 30-14 win in the extra mixed doubles set by Matthew Tolman and Caroline Walker sealed the victory.

They now go on to a face another Churchtown team. This time it’s their second team, who saw off Southport 11-1.

In the League Shield, it will be an all 2nd division semifinal line-up. After being declared shared winners with Ormskirk II back in 2020, Tarleton II look determined to keep the title all for themselves. This is after they quickly saw off Southport’s fourth team 12-0, despite having a ‘+12’ handicap disadvantage in each contest. They move on to play Hesketh Bank, who put out a strong side to defeat Mawdesley’s second team 10-2.

In the other half of the draw, Woodvale IV put their league struggles to one side and battled past third division promotion challengers West End Park II by a narrow 7-5 scoreline. Their semi-final opponents will be Churchtown III, who overcame a ‘+9’ handicap disadvantage to defeat Tarleton’s third team 11-1. Despite what the score suggests, almost every encounter was tightly fought and decided by only a couple of points.

While all the handicap knockout competitions were taking centre stage, there was still time for some rearranged league games to find a slot this past week.

Third division bottom side Formby suffered a tough 5-3 loss at the hands of mid-table side Southsands II. With games still in hand, there are still opportunities for the great escape to be accomplished.

But this heart-breaking result could prove vital.

Elsewhere, Crosby II move to the top of the fourth division with a convincing 7-1 win over eighth place side Woodvale VI. Despite the race for promotion being extremely tight, the knowledge of Crosby still having a 100% record and games in hand has had their rivals constantly looking over their shoulder. But with Crosby still having to play all of their fellow promotion challengers, this title race is not a full gone conclusion.

In the league’s fifth division, there were comfortable wins for top half sides Southsands

III and Southport VI over bottom two sides Woodvale VII and Southsands IV respectively.

For all the latest news and results from the league, be sure to check out their official website, www. southportbadminton.com. Also, make sure you like the league’s official Facebook page.