The Vics Wallasey Leasgue side continued their relentless charge for a 7th consecutive Title with a home whitewash against a gallant Manor Road “B” side at West Kirby tonight. Skipper Mally Johnson, taking no chances with his team selection, fielded the strongest available side he could and his ruthless placing of his players in their order of play, payed off handsomely with twelve winners out of twelve. Craig Borbenneaux 21-06, Dave Gilmore and Robby Fitzpatrick, both 21-08 and Neil Sherbrooke 21-09 were the single figure winners in the first eight blocks that saw the Vics pile on the agony for Manor Road’s second string team. Karl Sherbrooke and Anthony Thompson showed no mercy in compiling comfortable 21-10 victories and Billy Atkinson 21-12 and Brian Leonard 21-13 just kept the wins piling up. There were tighter games for Steve Nugent 21-15, Jamie Fitzpatrick 21-16 and John Lloyd 21-17 before “Rampant” Robby Franklin risked a season of barbed comments, by beating our reporter 21-14 in a game that was, as usual between these two good friends, full of fine comments and quips and also some good bowls from both players. It is always a pleasure to be in the same side as Robby but not such a pleasure to be in opposition but never mind I do have charge of the keyboard !!!! The overall margin of victory for the Vics was a massive 114 shots and Mally Johnson does seem to be coming round to the idea that our new scoring system is not so bad after all, as Manor Road “B” took 3 winners away from Queens Royal “A” a fortnight ago.
The Vics afternoon “A” team, despite having only 3 winners on the day, lost a tight match at Division One leaders Harrison Park by 18 shots yesterday. On a green resembling a football goalmouth after a hard season’s matches, sand, mud, no grass and numerous bumps and hollows, the Vics had started brightly, with “Rampant” Robby Franklin again proving a master of all surfaces with a fine if not easy 21-17 victory. The next 6 blocks however were losing ones for the Vics despite good performances from Mally Johnson 18-21, Eddie Clayburn 18-21 and Peter Dodd 20-21 after being 08-16 down at one stage. Kenny Palin proved that he knew this green as well as anyone with a good 21-16 win and Bernie Owen, going for a meal after the match this time instead of directly before it, provided an excellent if surprising 21-12 victory over Brian Pinder. Was it just a coincidence or did he seem lighter on his feet than normal yesterday? Skipper Billy Atkinson was also involved in a fine game before just losing out 18-21 but with only 3 winners the Vics did well to keep the score down to just an 18 shot deficit at the end of the match. The Vics really need to push hard against Pensby home and away in the next 2 matches if they are to stay in contention at the right end of the table.
The Vics afternoon “B” team suffered a rare home defeat yesterday when League leaders Upton Victory Hall “B” triumphed by 11 shots on a heavy Vics green. After last weeks 43 shot away defeat Skipper Derek Thomas was hoping to reverse the result and collect the aggregate point. His hopes were quickly shattered however when 5 defeats from the first 6 blocks left the Vics floundering. Dave Bosworth had started the afternoon off well for the Vics with a fine 21-16 win but that was it until Ian Cameron 21-20 and Brian Ibbotson 21-19 posted the next 2 winning cards for the Vics at numbers 7 and 8 respectively. With the last 2 on the green both Keith Etches and Derek Thomas needed to concede less than 18 points between them to see the Vics home to victory, never mind the aggregate point. Derek managed a good 21-17 win against an opponent unbeaten before yesterday and Keith came from 09-16 down to force a battling 21-20 victory but despite these efforts the Vics fell short of winning by 11 shots. This was a disappointing result for the Vics but Dave Leonard 18-21, Don Ibbotson 19-21 and Ernie Peers 20-21 were all involved in close defeats that with a touch more luck might have gone the other way but after this home defeat the Vics need to make hay at bottom club Greasby next week to make up ground in the League.
The Vics Birkenhead League side produced an excellent home performance against Heswall RBL last Friday when, with nine winners, they inflicted a 41 shot pounding on a much changed Heswall side from recent years. The two Johns, “Dapper” Devlin and “Lean Machine” Lloyd were the stars of the show with brilliant 21-05 and 21-06 wins respectively. “Crusher” kept up his good form this year with a comprehensive demolition job in a 21-09 victory and “Cool Dude” Borbenneaux bounced back to form with a fine 21-11 win. Billy Atkinson weighed in with a good 21-13 winning card and Robby Franklin came off a 21-16 winner. “Bernie the Bolt” Owen finally managed to unlock the the victory door in the League this season with a welcome 21-17 win and Neil Sherbrooke came through a difficult but excellent game to win 21-19. All in all this was a good performance from the Vics and thanks must go to Club Chairman, Brian Buck for once again turning out at short notice to make sure the Vics had a full complement of players on the night. The lads will be hopeful of maybe winning at Heswall on Friday or at least taking the aggregate point after this display.
The Father and Son duo of Dave and Matty Gilmore fought their way to the Wirral Merit Final at the excellent Upton Victory Hall green this afternoon with Son, Matty, finally overcoming Dad, Dave, in a thrilling final full of fine bowls. After beating Steve Dawson 21-15 in the quarter finals Matty then beat Nick Burridge 21-18 in a magnificent semi final with both bowlers bowling top quality end after end. Dave had beaten Mike Brooke in his quarter final 21-13 and then beat John Finch 21-12 in the semi final before doing battle with Matty in the final. Dave and Matty produced excellent bowling with the lead changing hands several times until at 18-18 Matty finally took hold of the jack and ran out a deserved 21-18 winner. In winning the Trophy, Matty became the 1st player in the 100 years of this competition to win it three times in a row.
Dave and Matty pictured after their Wirral Merit Final this afternoon.
The Vics Wallasey League side travelled to Gladstone Squirrels on Thursday and turned in a Champion’s display to come away with a magnificent 17-02 victory. With 10 away winners, the Vics gained ground over rivals Queens Royal “A” who could only manage 6 winners in their fixture at Gladstone earlier in the season.The 2 “Robbie’s”, Franklin and Fitzpatrick blazed the trail for the Vics with “Rampant” winning 21-02 and “Fitzy” winning 21-05. Not far behind came Neil Sherbrooke with another clinical performance in a 21-09 victory. Anthony Thompson 21-10 and Matty Gilmore 21-11 kept up their impressive Wallasey form with comprehensive wins and Robby Hall weighed in with an comfortable 21-13 winning card. Karl Sherbrooke won 21-17 on his old stamping ground and Jamie Fitzpatrick and John Lloyd kept up their fine form with crucial 21-18 wins. Billy Atkinson completed the tenth Vics win of the night with a fine comeback 21-20 victory after being well down at one stage. Skipper Mally Johnson was delighted with this performance and felt his team selection and placement was spot on against what could have been very difficult opponents.
The afternoon “A” team produced an emphatic performance against R.N.A. “B” at Heswall yesterday in the 1st round replay of the Centenary Shield. Having to concede 50 shots to the handicapper, the Vics had a clean sweep of 10 winners and one wonders how on earth the first match last week was drawn when the Vics had three 21-05 winners. A gallant R.N.A. were never in it yesterday on a green at least three times quicker than last week and the Vics had 5 single figure winners in Robbie Franklin 21-02, Peter Dodd 21-04, Kenny Palin (at last producing his best form for the Vics) 21-04, Eddie Clayburn (quickly getting over his nightmare of the previous day) 21-08 and Billy Atkinson 21-09. Mally Johnson 21-10, Elwyn Williams 21-14, Dick Peake 21-17 and Andrew Stratton 21-17 all provided winning cards for the Vics but special mention must go to Keith Etches who was involved in a difficult match against an opponent who was instrumental in Keith’s decision to leave his Wallasey League Club, Liscard, last season after a combined total of 36 years service. Keith once again, like Peter Dodd, producing the goods for the “A” team when called upon, gained a hugely satisfying 21-15 win against his adversary and it was good to see both players chatting and smiling throughout their difficult encounter.
The afternoon “A” team beat Harrison Park at West Kirby on Wednesday afternoon, when despite both sides having 5 winners each, the Vics managed to come out on top by 2 shots and inflict a first loss of the season on the reigning Division One Champions. With two winners each in the first four and two winners each in the middle four and one winner each from the last two this was always an exciting and close affair. Mally Johnson, back to something like his best form, managed a good 21-13 win and Robby Franklin produced a fine 21-14 winning scoreline to counteract the Vics 2 losing cards from the first four. Peter Dodd again starred with an excellent 21-14 victory when standing in for the injured Alan Hughes and Elwyn Williams tied things up for the Vics, after another two losses in the middle four, with a hard fought 21-18 win. With the last two on the green and the scores level the Vics Skipper, Billy Atkinson, with an excellent 21-10 win put the Vics in the driving seat and provided Bernie Owen could get to at least 11 against the Harrison Park Skipper, Bob Edwards, the Vics would triumph. After a difficult start and going behind 06-16 Bernie eventually managed to gather enough points to lose out 12-21 but see the Vics through to an exciting 2 shot victory. This match was played in the true spirit of Crown Green Bowling and congratulations must go to the “Gentlemen” of Harrison Park for their contribution to the afternoon’s entertainment.
Derek Thomas’s afternoon “B” team, yet again not at full strength, travelled to Division Three leaders Upton Victory Hall “B” and came away with a 43 shot loss even though Derek himself did his best with an excellent 21-08 victory. Bernie Davies, making a rare appearance on a Wednesday afternoon, had a fine 21-14 winning card but with only two other winners on the day in Brian Ibbotson 21-18 and Ian Cameron 21-19, the Vics need to produce a vintage performance in the return next Wednesday to gain the aggregate point. Ernie Peers was the best of the losers, going down 19-21 but with another 4 single figure losses away from home the Vics have left themselves a big task for next week. Derek will be glad when he can field his full side but unfortunately first team calls mean that it might be a few weeks yet before he is able to do so.
The afternoon “C” team suffered another away defeat, this time by 29 shots at the difficult R.N.A. green in Birkenhead. Despite the defeat, Skipper Brian Buck is confident that his team will be able to pull back the deficit and indeed go onto gain the aggregate point in the return match next Friday at West Kirby. Lawrie Blackburn continued his good form again this season with a fine 21-14 win followed by a good display from Harry Preston in his 21-16 victory. Bill Tottey came through a gruelling encounter to post a welcome 21-19 winning scorecard and Reg Armitage defied his age with a marathon 21-20 win. There were good displays in defeat for Andy Fergus 17-21 and Eric Neal 19-21 and with only 2 single figure losses this time, this was a much improved away performance by the “C” team.