After beating Queens Royal “B” by 4 shots in the semi final, the Vics “A” team lost out by 3 shots in the Wallasey Association Five A Side Cup final against Queens Royal “A ” at Central Park tonight. In the semi final the Vics had Anthony Thompson 21-11, Steve Nugent 21-15 and Dave Gilmore 21-17 as their 3 winners. The Final was a close run event on a good Bronze green at Central Park with the scores level after both Matty Gilmore and Anthony Thompson had posted 21-13 and 21-16 winning cards to offset the 2 winning cards for Queens Royal “A” against Steve Nugent and Jamie Fitzpatrick. Dave Gilmore and Les Henderson were left to battle it out for the trophy with Les just running out a 21-18 winner to give Queens Royal “A” the cup.
The Vics Birkenhead League side continued their fine early season form in Division One, with another away win last night, this time by 53 shots at Cammell Laird. “Brutal” Brian Leonard continued to impress his new team mates with an excellent 21-09 victory but had to be content with a share of the sweep as Billy Atkinson bounced right back into attacking mode, after the previous night’s disappointing performance, with an equally impressive 21-09 win. “Crusher” Karl Sherbrooke finally carried out the promise of his previous 2 league outings, with an emphatic 21-10 victory matched by an excellent display of corner bowling by “Cool Dude” Craig Borbenneaux in another powerful 21-10 win. “Rampant” Robby Franklin is having to come to terms with what seems like an ordinary 21-13 win for him and Neil Sherbrooke also posted a fine 21-13 winning scorecard. Mally Johnson, showing that he has not lost it (well not any weight) weighed in with a good 21-16 victory which was followed by a first Vics win for Frank O’Neill, who had a tough 21-17 game. Trevor Rodgers, another of the Vics “portly brigade” managed to pull off a 21-18 victory but has still to display the form he showed last season. John Lloyd was unlucky to lose out 20-21 but the Vics Skipper, Ian Sherbrooke has to be pleased with the way the team has started the season and with Cammell Laird at home on Monday, the team could have maximum points in the bag before Champions Gladstone visit West Kirby next Friday.
The Wallasey C.G.B.A. league season got under way last night with a new points scoring system in operation. At the end of the night however the Vics yet again came away from Manor Road “A” with a big overall victory. With one and a half points available to each individual away winner and two points for winning the match on total score, the Vics managed a 14-04 victory thanks to 8 winners on the night. Robby Fitzpatrick and Anthony Thompson were the two high scorers for the Vics, with excellent 21-08 winning cards. The Vics had three 21-11 winners in Matty Gilmore, Steve Nugent and Jamie Fitzpatrick with Steve and Jamie making convincing winning debuts for the club. Robby Hall continued his brilliant early season form with a fine 21-12 win, closely followed by a good 21-13 victory by Neil Sherbrooke. Dave Gilmore opened his season with a more difficult 21-17 win to complete the Vics eight winners on the night. With every individual point now vital to the teams effort Skipper Mally Johnson looks as though he is going to have a difficult selection problem in the weeks to come with his tremendous squad of players all vying for places. The big match against Queens Royal “A” at West Kirby next Thursday night is next on the agenda for Mally and his team.
The afternoon “B” team had an excellent win against Albany “B” in the Centenary Shield preliminary round at Greasby yesterday, with the amazing C.K.Pau sweeping up again with a brilliant 21-06 win. Following last weeks profitable afternoon for C.K., there seems to be no way to stop him at the moment as he peppered the jack all afternoon, with his opponent in despair at the end. Ernie Peers, having gone to the wrong destination, eventually arrived to be not far behind C.K. with a great 21-09 winning card. Skipper, Derek Thomas and Club President, Dave Bosworth both had hard fought and exciting 21-19 wins to keep up their early season run of success and with Ian Cameron 18-21, Dave Leonard 19-21 and Keith Etches 20-21 all producing excellent if not quite winning displays, in close games, the Vics had done enough to secure victory over higher ranked opponents to progress to the 1st round of this competition. The Vics have a tough encounter next week at R.N.A. and will be looking to improve drastically on last years display at the tricky little green in Birkenhead.
The Vics afternoon “A” team easily defeated Bromborough Pool, in the preliminary round of the Centenary Shield, on a heavy Royden Hall green yesterday. Despite losing 3 of the first 5 blocks and conceding a 20 shot handicap to their opponents, the Vics had 3 crucial single figure winners in Billy Atkinson 21-02, Eddie Clayburn 21-04 and Ken Palin 21-08. Billy and Eddie going some way to redeeming themselves after heavy losses in the Five A Side Cup on Tuesday night. It was good to see Kenny Palin produce something like his best form in his first (of many we hope) victory for the Vics. Elwyn Williams 21-13 and “stand in” Peter Dodd 21-14, consolidated for the Vics in the middle four with comfortable wins and Bernie Owen 21-16 and Robby Franklin 21-17, both finding it a bit more difficult, completed the job to see the Vics through to victory by 38 shots in the end.
The Vics two sides in the Wallasey Association Five A Side Cup quarter finals endured difficult matches last night, with the “A” team just qualifying for Saturday’s semi final and the “B” team suffering a big loss in their match. Robby Hall was the inspiration for the “A” team against Manor Road “B”, with a tremendous 21-11 victory when the tie was in the balance. Steve Nugent was the Vics only other winner with a 21-14 winning card. These two wins were enough to see off Manor by 10 shots and put the Vics “A” team into a semi final against Queens Royal “B” at Central Park on Saturday 28th April. The Vics “B” team only had 1 winner in Robby Franklin in their match with Queens Royal “B” and a heavy 33 shot loss was the outcome of this match.
The Vics Birkenhead League side beat Harrison Park by 37 shots, at a wet and heavy Ashton Park green last night, to continue their winning start to the season. Star of the show was “Brutal” Brian Leonard who sealed a brilliant home debut performance by taking the sweep in a blazing 21-08 victory. Not far behind him were Robby Franklin and Billy Atkinson, who both had convincing 21-11 wins. John Devlin made it two wins in two games with a fine 21-12 winning card and Trevor Rodgers went some way towards redeeming himself after Friday’s nightmare with a good 21-15 win. Neil Sherbrooke, not quite reaching the heights of Friday, did enough to post a 21-17 winning scorecard and Brother Karl was also made to struggle before finally winning 21-18. There was another close game for John Lloyd, who eventually triumphed 21-19. With eight winners on the night the Vics were comfortable victors in the end but with the continued heavy rain over the last two days the green was not as fast and tricky as the Vics like it and apart from Brian Leonard’s fine show the games were closer than would normally be the case. Frank O’Neill made his debut for the Vics and after a slow start did manage to get back into his game before finally losing out 15-21 in the end. No doubt Frank will be hoping for better at Cammell Lairds on Friday night. The Vics have started the season in fine style and all the players that have played in both matches so far have won at least one game. Skipper Ian Sherbrooke will be hoping for more of the same in the next double header against Cammell Lairds.
Ian Sherbrooke returned as Captain of the Vics Birkenhead League side last night and although unable to play because of injury, led his side to a good 19 shot away win at Harrison Park. With 7 winners on the night, the Vics started their campaign in impressive style on a bumpy and very dry Harrison Park green. The Vics were 1 shot down after the first 4 blocks but with Mally Johnson reaching something like his best form in a confident 21-13 win and Karl Sherbrooke producing a solid if not “crushing” 21-16 victory this was not a bad start. The Vics also had 2 winning blocks in the middle 4 with Neil Sherbrooke storming to a 21-07 win and Colin Saville posting an impressive 21-11 winning scorecard. With a nine shot lead after 8 blocks the Vics took 3 out of the last 4 to confirm a fine 19 shot victory on the night. Billy Atkinson, never one to play a match that doesn’t involve some excitement one way or another, had a good 21-13 win that included a dispute about a returned wood and both Craig Borbenneaux and John Devlin bowled well in difficult but good 21-18 wins at the end. Brian Leonard promised more to come, after a decent performance on his debut, before going down 16-21 in the end and I think Trevor Rodgers will be out early on Monday practising hard after a difficult night for him and a single figure loss. Ian Sherbrooke, well satisfied with an away victory first up, will be confident of securing another win and the aggregate point in Monday night’s return at West Kirby. There has been a noticeable change in personnel for the Vics Birkenhead League side over the last few seasons, with some younger players added and the squad will be looking to produce some consistency in their league performances, especially away from home.
The Vics afternoon “C” team had a bad day at the office yesterday, when they travelled to the excellent Manor Road green in Wallasey and returned having suffered a massive 107 shot defeat. Unusually for West Kirby Victoria bowlers, the team could not handle the fast conditions at Manor Road. All ten cards were losing ones for the Vics with only 4 bowlers managing double figures on the day. Reg Armitage 13-21, Eddie Dodd 15-21, Lawrie Blackburn 17-21 and Eric Neal 18-21 at least managed to prolong their matches before finally losing out in the end. All in all a chastening experience for the Vics made just a lttle bit worse with the attendance of our reporter at the match. Skipper Brian Buck will have some tough talking to do to the side before next weeks Shield match against Thingwall “B” on another slick green at Higher Tranmere.
The Vics two teams in the Wallasey Association Five A Side competition, progressed smoothly into the quarter finals tonight with both teams coping well with adverse green conditions. The “A” team had two 21-03 winners against Sacred Heart “A” in Dave Gilmore and Anthony Thompson, although “Buzz” did complain the green was unplayable, goodness knows what he will do on a good green. The “B” team found it a little harder against Hoylake Central but Mally Johnson did finally manage to get off the mark for the first time this season with a 21-14 win. The “A” team face Manor Road “B” in the quarter finals with the “B” team facing Queens Royal “B”. Both matches take place on Tuesday 24th April