The afternoon “A” team progressed into the next round of The Centenary Shield with a comprehensive 127 shot victory, reduced to 67 by the handicap. With 5 single figure winners, led by Elwyn Williams and Billy Atkinson both winning 21-05, closely followed by Andrew Stratton and Peter Walker winning 21-06 and Keith Etches running out a 21-08 winner, their was no hope for the unfortunate Thingwall side. Thingwall didn’t give up however and Mally Johnson 21-10, Dick Peake 21-12, Robby Franklin 21-14 and Bernie Owen 21-17 all had slightly tougher games. The Vics will face tougher ties ahead but will be in good heart after winning their first three matches of the season.
The Vics Wallasey side skipper, Mally Johnson, endured a tough night, as his team started the season slowly with an average performance against Harrison Park at West Kirby last night. With late arrivals throwing his original playing order to one side and 2 late cry-offs, it was not the easiest of evenings to captain the side. The Vics, with nine winners on the night, did triumph by 64 shots but the overall feeling was that this was a disappointing start to the challenge of adding a 5th successive title in the Wallasey Association 1st Division. With 3 winners in the hastily reorganised front four, the Vics only led by 6 shots. Peter Dodd 21-13, Robby Franklin 21-16 and Bernie Owen 21-17 were the early winners but with the arrival of the “Big Guns” in the shape of Robby Fitzpatrick 21-13, Matty Gilmore 21-07, Anthony Thompson 21-06 and Neil Sherbrooke 21-05, the lead was quickly increased to 59 shots. Harrison Park fought back in the back four despite Dave Gilmore imperiously sweeping up with a 21-03 victory and Billy Atkinson winning 21-10. With 2 Harrison Park winners in the last 3 games the overall winning margin was only 64 shots. It is the setting of high standards in recent years that makes us feel a 64 shot win was a disappointing start and The Vics must not drop their guard or the likes of Queens Royal will be waiting in the wings to take any advantage they can.
The Birkenhead League side lost heavily against Higher Tranmere tonight in the Victory Cup preliminary round tie at Thingwall. Higher Tranmere produced an awesome performance to show their undoubted class at this level. With a 21 shot advantage, thanks to the handicap, hopes of a Vics victory evaporated quickly as we had only one winner on the night. Trevor Rodgers, giving a great performance in his 21-07 win, showed that he has game to worry the big boys of the League. Unfortunately only Robby Franklin (19-21) and Billy Atkinson (20-21) produced anything like a serious challenge to Higher Tranmere and even with the handicap the Vics went down by 77 shots. Thanks must go to C.K.Pau and Bob Jones for stepping in at the last moment to prevent the ignominy of fielding less than a full side, with 2 cry offs due to illness during the day.
The Wallasey “A” team beat Queens Royal “B” by 3 shots last night in a tough quarter final encounter. With the first three blocks all losing it was left to Matty Gilmore and Robby Fitzpatrick to pull back a 14 shot deficit to push the Vics into the semi finals. It all looked bleak when Robby found himself 1-9 down but a tremendous turnaround saw him victorious in the end and with Matty also winning well, the holders moved into Saturday’s semi final to face Manor Road “B”. The other semi involves Parkfield “B” against Manor Road “A”, with both matches commencing at 6-00pm to be followed by the final. All the matches will be at the greens in Harrison Park.
“TheVics” Birkenhead League side completely outclassed Manor Road last night in a huge 71 shot victory at West Kirby. Trailing by 46 shots after the away leg on Friday, “The Vics” needed a good performance to get the season firmly under way. With 11 winners on the night for “The Vics”, Manor Road were staring defeat in the face right from the off. Trevor Rodgers continues to show impressive form and set us on the way with a comprehensive 21-07 win. Ian Sherbrooke with a routine (for him) 21-11 victory and Bernie Owen with a very hardfought 21-20 win after being 15-20 down, together with “Crusher” Karl Sherbrooke’s narrow 21-20 win after blowing a big lead, saw “The Vics” pull back 26 shots in the first four. With Dick Peake, in his best performance for this side so far, running away with a 21-08 win, Neil Sherbrooke (2 wins out of 2) winning 21-15 and Peter Dodd (from 3-11 down) winning 21-18, “The Vics” had increased their lead to 41 after the middle four. With a clean sweep of winners in the back four, George Morgan winning comfortably 21-12 and both Mally Johnson and Robby Franklin with harder 21-18 wins, it was left again to Dr. Atkinson to claim the sweep with a clinical dissection of his opponent and a 21-06 win. With a 71 shot victory “The Vics” showed that once again home form will be vital in claiming aggregate points. Next up Higher Tranmere in the Victory Cup on Wednesday at Thingwall.
The Vics 5-A-Side “A” team continued their defence of the trophy by progressing to the quarter finals after a victory over Marine Park at Manor Road on Thursday night. Matty Gilmore, Dave Gilmore, Robby Fitzpatrick, Robby Hall and Anthony Thompson are an impressive quintet in any company and they now tackle Queens Royal “B” on Tuesday, again at Manor Road, for a place in the semi finals. This will not be an easy match but The Vics will be confidant of victory in the defence of their title. Unfortunately The Vics “B” team lost to Parkfield “B” at Marine Park on Thursday.
The Birkenhead League season got under way tonight with The Vics going down to a 46 shot away defeat at Manor Road. With only 3 winners on the night, a tough task lies ahead to gain the aggregate point in the return match at West Kirby on Monday night. Billy Atkinson continued his fine start to the season overall, with a fine 21-11 victory completed in near darkness. Trevor Rodgers had a hardfought 21-18 win and Neil Sherbrooke completed the winning trio with an even tighter 21-20 victory. There were however some very close defeats for The Vics, with Captain, Ian Sherbrooke, Mally Johnson and Peter Dodd all going down 20-21. Bernie Owen lost 19-21 and Robby Franklin went down 17-21. Nine losers is a bad start and hopefully we can recover sufficiently well on Monday to put us on the way to a big win and get what will be a difficult season back on track. It is important for team spirit, that with such a small squad, we pick up some early season aggregate points.
The Vics “B” team lost heavily at Cammell Laird yesterday afternoon, to miss out on the aggregate point by 9 shots. The match was overshadowed by Chris Williams being unwell during his game and having to concede to 6 after being 5 across at one stage. Hopefully Chris will recover quickly and be available for selection again soon. Keith Etches won his second game of the season in a fine start to his membership at the Vics, once again winning 21-16. Brian Ibbotson started his season yesterday, after being unwell last week, with a very close and hardfought 21-20 victory. Unfortunately these were the only two Vics winners on the day at a very cold and wet green which was quite quick in places and heavy in other parts. Ernie Peers 19-21 and Derek Thomas 17-21 were the pick of the losers and hopefully this will be a one off performance by the “B” team in trying circumstances. The “B” team have a bye next week in the Centenary Shield.
Eddie Clayburn continued to impress with an excellent 21-06 win yesterday as The Vics “A” team completed an early season double over Higher Tranmere at West Kirby. Eddie showed no mercy in completing his second victory against Higher Tranmere in a week whilst only conceding 7 points in the two games. Andrew Stratton also started the season with 2 wins after completing an impressive 21-08 victory yesterday. Skipper Billy Atkinson , delighted with his team’s start to the campaign, also completed his second win with a 21-10 result. Mally Johnson continued his fine start to the season with a 21-11 victory, to also win his first two games. Bernie Owen and Dick Peake must be eating from the same plate, as they both won 21-17 to go with their identical results from last week. With six winners and good contributions from the rest of the squad, The Vics ran out eventual winners by 27 points to claim the extra point and start off the season with a welcome 5 points from the 2 matches with Higher Tranmere. Next week the “A” team are in Centenary Shield action at Upton Victory Hall against Thingwall “C”.
After an afternoon of localised thunder on the Wirral yesterday, both the Vics “A” and “B” teams stormed through their ties in the Wallasey Association 5-A-Side competition. The “A” team easily progressed against fierce rivals Queens Royal “A” and The “B” team outscored Marine Park “B” with the help of 21-02 and 21-04 victories by Dick Peake and Billy Atkinson. The 3rd round takes place tomorrow (Thursday 21st April) with the “A” team in action at Manor Road and the “B” team playing at Marine Park.