The afternoon “B” team lifted the gloom hanging over the club, with a marvellous 54 shot home win against Birkenhead Park yesterday, to gain the extra point as well as defeating the table toppers. It was Ian Cameron’s turn to lead the way yesterday with a great 21-10 win closely followed by Paul Lomax winning 21-11. Skipper Don Ibbotson continued to show good form with a 21-12 win and this was followed by a couple of 21-13 winners in Ernie Peers and Lawrie Blackburn. C.K.Pau again demonstrated his ability with a good 21-14 win and Dave Bosworth weighed in with a 21-16 victory. With Harry Preston losing 19-21 and both Derek Thomas and Brian Ibbotson only going down 20-21, this was a consistent overall display by the Vics and a few more of these performances will see the Vics climb the table in good style.
The afternoon “A” team completed a miserable 24 hours for the Vics, by going down by 23 shots at Capenhurst, to lose the aggregate point by 2 shots. After the previous nights Wallasey League upset, the Vics went into this match determined to at least hang on to the aggregate point but with only 3 winners on the day, this was not to be. Despite a brilliant display from Eddie Clayburn, who won 21-09, the Vics lost 4 of the first five blocks with only Keith Etches 20-21 and Mally Johnson 18-21 pushing their opponents to the limit. Elwyn Williams then came in with a close fought 21-18 victory and when this was followed by another fine win for Billy Akinson, 21-10 this time, the Vics hopes were rising but with 08-21 and 14-21 defeats at the end, the Vics eventually lost by 23 shots and the aggregate point by 2. This was a severe blow to the Vics title hopes and they will need to return to the good form shown at the start of the season to stay on top of the league.
Queens Royal gained sweet revenge over the Vics Wallasey League side last night, with a comfortable 36 shot victory in the Harold Jones Cup Semi final at Central Park in Wallasey. After defeat in last years Harold Jones Final and finishing as runners up in the League to the Vics, Royal were well and truly up for the match last night and early single figure wins set them on the way to a clean sweep of the first five blocks. With a 46 shot deficit to make up from this start the Vics did manage to win 6 of the next 7 games but with another single figure loss to contend with, the task proved too much this time. Anthony Thompson 21-13, Robby Franklin 21-14, Robby Hall 21-15, Billy Atkinson 21-18, Neil Sherbrooke 21-19 and Ian Sherbrooke 21-20 all produced winning cards for the Vics but the handicap of losing 03, 04 and 08 cards meant that for once the Vics were found wanting. Excuses about the tricky green could not be used as both teams do not play on this green at all during the season and as much as it hurts the Vics players, we just have to applaud Queens Royal’s performance on the night and hope we can bounce back against them on July 7th in the League encounter at West Kirby. Skipper Mally Johnson will have to rally his troops for what looks like being a tricky match at Harrison Park on Thursday night.
The afternoon “A” team had a comfortable victory over Heswall RBL “A” on Wednesday in the Centenary Cup 2nd Round. Winning by an eventual 45 shots the Vics were set on their way with tremendous displays by Robby Franklin (who incidentally turned up like a clone of Geoffrey Boycott resplendent in Panama Hat), Mally Johnson and Elwyn Williams. Robby 21-04, Mally 21-06 and Elwyn 21-09 ensured there would be no slip ups by the Vics in this tie. Billy Atkinson had his usual win , this time 21-11 and Bernie Owen triumphed 21-14. With only 5 winners out of the ten games, a much closer scoreline would have seemed possible but with Dick Peake and Keith Etches both getting 18 and a couple of 20’s from Eddie Clayburn and Peter Walker the early single figure winners proved decisive contributions for the Vics. Next up a difficult away league match at Capenhurst when a consistent team effort will be required to claim victory or at least the extra point.
The Vics Birkenhead League side suffered a humiliating 82 shot defeat at Heswall RBL “A” last night and with only 3 winners on the night, the aggregate point was out of reach very early on. Neil Sherbrooke continued his remarkable Birkenhead League form with another fine win, this time 21-15. Billy Atkinson followed him home by winning 21-16 in heavy rain at the end of the match. The only other winner on the night was Bernie Owen with a 21-19 win after throwing away a big lead early on. Mally Johnson and Ian Sherbrooke were the best of the rest, both losing 16-21 after good displays. The Vics had 4 single figure losers last night and with the very small squad available to choose from there is not much leeway for skipper Ian Sherbrooke to change his team for the daunting task of facing Higher Tranmere next Friday. A welcome re-appearance in Vics colours last night was made by Brian Buck, our former Chairman, who has made a return to the Wirral after living in York for 2 years.
Club secretary Peter Dodd, has decided to call it a day on his playing career in the Wallasey League and will now only being playing in Birkenhead League matches for the Vics. With the amount of travel involved to matches and the extra workload of also being League secretary, Peter has decided that the time has come to cut down on matches and Monday and Friday are better playing days, family wise, for him.
The Vics Wallasey League team continued there relentless pursuit of a fifth consecutive 1st Division title by beating Manor Road “A” by 19 shots last night, in a close encounter on a tricky Manor Road green. With skipper Mally Johnson once again unafraid to make difficult selection decisions, all the Vics star players produced the goods yet again when required. Four close games in the 1st four blocks saw the Vics take an early 13 shot lead, with Anthony O’Neil and Neil Sherbrooke excelling, by coming from 3-12 and 0-10 down respectively, to win their games 21-16 and 21-18. Ian Sherbrooke also had a tough game before coming out on top 21-17 and Dave Gilmore triumphed 21-20 in another hard game. The ability to hang in when things are not going well was shown in all four of these games and is the reason why the Vics eventually came out on top in the end. Unfortunately Peter Dodd and Trevor Rodgers could not show the same toughness in their games with Peter losing 06-21 and Trevor going down 11-21, to give Manor Road hope of another shock victory over the Vics, Manor being the only team to beat the Vics in the last 2 seasons. Robby Fitzpatrick and Anthony Thompson both won 21-15 however to bring the scores level after the middle four. The turning point of the match was another fine display from Billy Atkinson, who found the green and his opponent to his liking in a tremendous 21-12 win to set the Vics back on the road to victory. Matty Gilmore and Robby Hall demonstrated their skills and fighting qualities by winning 21-18 and 21-16 to stretch the overall lead, leaving it to the delicate touches of the silky Robby Franklin to seal the eventual overall triumph, with a very close 21-19 win. This was another fine performance by all the Vics recognised star players, especially after the two shaky middle order defeats and Mally Johnson went home a very happy skipper even more convinced his selection policies prove right time and time again, with the Vics truly “Lords of the Manor” and ready for another Royal performance next Tuesday. Next up a difficult Harold Jones semi final against Queens Royal at Central Park on Tuesday.
Chris Williams, hopefully fully recovered from an illness plagued season, cruised to a comfortable 21-06 win on Thursday, as the afternoon “C” team strolled to a 45 shot home win against Albany “C”. Sid Dutton, unbelievably well into his nineties, showed there is no substitute for ability, by winning 21-11 in his first league start this season. Bill Powell, a mere youngster in his eighties, also won 21-11. How do they do it???? Bernie Davies and C.K.Pau, determined that the youngsters in the team were not to be outdone, had 21-14 victories followed by a return to winning ways for Bill Tottey, who won 21-17. Bill Spraggett ground out a good 21-19 win and Andy Fergus got his money’s worth with a very tight 21-20 victory. John Dodd and Alan Flaxen played their part, in this good win for the Vics, with 15 and 16 respectively. All in all a good day for Eric Neal’s side which was once again a much changed outfit from last week.
The Vics Wallasey League side beat Liscard by 29 shots last Tuesday in a Presidents Cup 1st round tie at Burton’s despite the handicappers giving Liscard an 84 shot advantage at the start of the match. On the same day as Royal Ascot started, big winners were a must for the Vics. Ian Sherbrooke 21-05, Trevor Rodgers 21-07 and Anthony Thompson 21-07 sprinted out of the starting stalls and provided the platform for the rest of the team to build on and they didn’t disappoint. Neil Sherbrooke 21-10 and a trio of 21-11’s from Mally Johnson, Billy Atkinson and Robby Franklin drove the Vics further towards the finishing line and when Karl Sherbrooke and Bernie Owen posted a couple of 21-12 wins the Vics were galloping into the winning straight. Dave Gilmore weighed in with a good 21-13 win and there was a welcome debut for Anthony O’Neill who was involved in a tight game against the League President, Keith Etches, before finally coming out on top 21-16. On a night when many thought the handicap was too high, it was left to Peter Dodd to try and keep the 2nd round handicappers at bay by managing to go down 18-21 in his game, if only the rest of the squad would think ahead??? Skipper Mally Johnson’s relentless desire to win every match by as big a total as possible is obviously the correct attitude but the Vics will have to expect to give these big starts to opponents from the lower divisions in the Presidents Cup. Next up Magazine Hotel in the second round, will Peter Dodd’s efforts be noticed by the Jockey Club or indeed the spy from the handicapping committee who was watching this match?
The afternoon “B” team came up against table topping Birkenhead Park yesterday and did well to keep the final score down to a 43 shot loss and give themelves the chance of the extra point in the return fixture. With only three winners on the day the Vics were always struggling to keep in touch. Brian Ibbotson continued his fine run of form with a vital 21-12 win and Skipper Don Ibbotson had a good game before running out an eventual 21-17 winner. Derek Thomas was the only other winner on the day, winning 21-19 after a hard battle throughout. Paul Lomax did well to only go down 19-21 and there were a couple of 14-21 scorecards for C.K.Pau and Dave Bosworth. A solid home performance from the whole team will be required in the return fixture to claim the extra point.