The afternoon “C team, playing their 1st game for 28 days, brushed away the cobwebs with an emphatic 60 shot home win over near challengers, Bromborough Pool “C” on Friday. Eddie Dodd was chief sweeper, with an easy 21-06 victory, followed by 2 comfortable 21-10 wins for Stan Evans and John Davies. Bill Tottey and skipper Eric Neal both won 21-14 and Ernie Peers and Bill Powell chipped in with solid 21-15 wins. Ken Bidwell had one of his toughest games to date, with a close 21-17 win and C.K.Pau completed a ninth win on the day for the Vics, with a hard fought 21-18 victory. The Vics are well on course for the title in the 5th division and 2 away games this week will go a long way to deciding if the Vics can last the distance in the race for the league crown.
Congratulations to Anthony Thompson for winning the Vics “averages” in the Wallasey League this season. Buzz had to withstand a late charge by Matty Gilmore to claim the title and by going through the season undefeated deserved his overall win. Buzz won 18 out of 18 for an overall plus of 203 shots and an average 0f 2.16. Matty won 18 lost 1 for an overall plus of 201 and an average of 2.04. Robby Franklin just pipped Dave Gilmore to come 3rd with an average of 1.75 to Dave’s 1.74. With every player eligible having a plus average this is the reason that the Vics were so dominant this season and why close games were turned into victories. It is this strength in depth that continues to wear down opposing sides.
The Vics Wallasey side just did enough last night to secure a 7 shot win at Sacred Heart and ensure that they went through the whole season with just 1 defeat in all competitions. Bernie Owen had an easy 21-05 win in the 1st four to set the Vics on the way to what looked like a comfortable night but Sacred Heart showed great fighting spirit to give the Vics a fright before the match was won. Neil Sherbrooke and Matty Gilmore both had comfortable 21-10 wins followed by Robby Fitzpatrick winning 21-13. Anthony Thompson had a hard game before coming through 21-16 and Robby Franklin had a tough 21-19 win to complete the Vics winners on the night. This was not the best display by the Vics but once again overall, the performance was just enough for the win. Congratulations to everyone who played during this brilliant season for the Vics and hopefully more of the same next season.
The afternoon “A” team suffered a bad 8 shot away loss at Hoylake Marine yesterday with only 4 winning cards on the day. With Hoylake being one of the teams below the Vics in the League, defeats like this are hard to take and a big improvement is required in the final few weeks of the season. Robby Franklin again showed that it is not only fine wine that improves with age, when he came in with an excellent 21-07 win. Dick Peake continued his winning run with an easy 21-09 victory and Bernie Owen also had a comfortable 21-12 win. The only other winner on the day was skipper Brian Ibbotson with a close 21-18 result. Club Chairman, Dave Bosworth was the best of the losers with a hard fought 20-21 loss but the Vics were caught out on the speedy Hoylake green. A big home win in the return is a must to restore confidence for the team.
The afternoon “B” team had a close encounter with Wallasey RBL on Wednesday before winning by 5 shots on the day. This was however not good enough to gather the aggregate point over the 2 matches. With 5 winners each, the match was indeed a closely fought contest and Lawrie Blackburn’s excellent 21-05 and Chris Williams easy 21-08 wins were crucial to the outcome. Derek Thomas weighed in with a good 21-10 win and Harry Preston 21-18 and Bill Tottey 21-19 both had hard fought but vital victories. Bowls is such a team game that every shot gained is vital to the final outcome and the 5 losers on the day all contributed valuable totals to the overall team win.
Brian Ibbotson’s afternoon “A” team just did enough on Wednesday to claim the aggregate point against Harrison Park “B” despite going down by 15 shots at New Brighton. With 5 away winners on the day, last weeks close 21 shot home win was sufficient for the extra point. Robby Franklin, adjusting to life well with the senior set, was a good 21-12 winner closely followed by Ian Cameron winning 21-14. Skipper Brian Ibbotson and Eddie Clayburn both had close 21-18 victories and Dick Peake continued his recent good form with a nail biting 21-20 win.Bernie Owen was the best of the losing cards going down 16-21 but the rest of the side managed to garner enough shots for the aggregate point.
The Vics Wallasey League side completed their 4th consectutive 1st division title last night, with a comprehensive 78 shot victory over Manor Road “B”. All mathematical hope for rivals Queens Royal vanished into thin air with 11 home winners on the night. Robby Fitzpatrick, resplendant in a club shirt, had an easy 21-04 win with Matty Gilmore also showing his class with a 21-06 victory. The rest of the Manor Road bowlers bowled the green quite well with Neil Sherbrooke 21-10 and Dave Gilmore 21-12 the next best for the Vics. Robby Franklin, back from holiday, had a 21-13 win and Ian Sherbrooke won 21-15. Bernie Owen won 21-16 and Anthony Thompson had one of his toughest home games this season before winning 21-17. Both Skipper Mally Johnson and Eddie Clayburn won close fought 21-18 games and Peter Dodd had to come from 15-20 down to win 21-20 and keep his unbeaten home record intact. Unfortunately Billy Atkinson went down to Bill Draper 17-21 at the end but with 11 winners and a 78 shot overall victory, the Vics have proved yet again that overall team strengh is the deciding factor in the Wallasey League. The last game of the season takes place at Sacred Heart on Thursday 6-15pm.
Robby Fitzpatrick won the Wallasey Festival at Harrison Park on Sunday afternoon with a superb display in the final beating Colin Saville 21-08. Robby had to work hard for his victory, playing 5 games in the day. He beat Geoff Lynch Jnr. 21-17, Dave Croston 21-14, Mike Nelson 21-11 and Steve Wharton Jnr. 21-17 in the semi final before coming up against Colin Saville in the final. Congratulations to Robby but I think he needs to find a new shirt, that Cisse shirt is a bit much when you have to look at it for 5 hours !!!!!
The Vics Wallasey League side completed their expected clean sweep of trophies this year by adding the Presidents Cup to their haul. In a closely contested final last night, the Vics triumphed by 21 shots, despite having to give away a handicap of 12 to the only side to have beaten us this season. Manor Road got off to the perfect start taking the first 2 games to build up a 36 shot overall lead but Karl “Crusher” Sherbrooke and Bernie Owen, with good 21-13 and 21-14 wins, reduced this lead to 21 after the 1st four. Ian Sherbrooke, with a great 21-09, Peter Dodd, a cool 21-14 winner, and Anthony Thompson a hard fought 21-17 winner, ensured that Manor Road’s lead was down to only 6 with the back 4 to go. Matty Gilmore, with an easy 21-07 win, Billy Atkinson, just as impressive with a 21-08 and Robby Hall 21-16, despite his skippers advice of “no danger” at one end, clinched victory for the Vics by the final margin of 21 shots. Skipper Mally Johnson receiving the trophy from League Chairman, Mike Costall, thanked his team for another good performance and stated he was proud of the way the team had performed again. Commiserations went to the Manor Road side who performed well without just managing to do enough to win the cup. Dave Gilmore, Neil Sherbrooke, Robby Fitzpatrick and skipper Mally Johnson all played their parts in the overall team display and it was this overall strengh that once again proved too much for the opposition.
Robby Franklin won the “averages” for the Vics Birkenhead League side this year having won 15 of his 20 games and with a points tally of plus 113 his average was 1.40. Tony Vyskocil was a close second on 1.39 followed by Billy Atkinson 1.26. Skipper Ian Sherbrooke 1.23 was 4th with young Trevor Rodgers a good 5th 1.19 in his 1st season of 1st division bowls. Neil Sherbrooke was 6th at 1.15 followed by Peter Dodd and Karl Sherbrooke joint 7th on 1.04. ( I wonder if Doddy becomes an assistant Crusher now. ) With George Morgan at 1.01 just creeping into the plus figures the Vics had 9 bowlers showing a plus average out of the 14 players qualifying by playing a minimum of 50% of the games available. All in all not a bad return for the Vics with every player used contributing to the overall team performance by giving of their best in every game.