Brotherhood E are the new Division Three champions after beating nearest rivals Windsor Harriers 8-2 in the final week of the Clacton League season.
Fred Gallone and Duncan Dunne remained unbeaten, whilst Tricia Salter recorded an important psychological win over Ferdy Rodriguez early in the encounter to set the trio on their winning way.
But the match was closer than the score-line suggests, with Brotherhood winning four of the five matches which went the distance.
Dunne defeated Rodriguez 11-8 in the decider and Isabel Barton 11-4 in the decider, Dunne and Gallone took the doubles 11-8 in the decider, whilst Gallone had a titanic struggle against Rodriguez in match ten before edging it 10-12, 8-11, 11-8, 11-6, 12-10.
Isabel Barton, the only player to have beaten Gallone this season, succumbed this time but had the satisfaction of beating Salter 11-8, 12-14, 10-12, 11-5, 11-9.
So congratulations go to the Brotherhood E trio, along with their two other squad members, Rodney Betts and Tony Edmonds, worthy Division Three champions, while Windsor Harriers will have to settle for the runners-up spot.
Brotherhood G have shown a remarkable improvement in form over the season and they went into their last match against Walton E needing a clean sweep of the points to secure third place at the expense of Nomads Leopards.
Leading 9-0, it was up to Dan Grindrod to secure the crucial final point, but opposing captain Lynette Sparks was not going to concede without a fight. In an intense match which see-sawed throughout, Grindrod eventually clinched his team’s 10-0 win, and overall third position, but only by the narrowest of margins 11-7, 16-18, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8.
There was a third victory for a Brotherhood team as the ‘F’ side defeated Nomads Bobcats 7-3, Tom Bryden taking his maximum, Joe Sherwin winning two and JJ Barry one. For the Bobcats, Matt Sage won a couple whilst Jack Riddleston edged out JJ Barry 12-10 in the fifth for the Bobcats’ third point.
In Division One Brotherhood A, already confirmed as runners-up, concluded their season with a 7-3 victory over a two-player Walton A, Kevin Gowlett and Russell Hillier unbeaten. Hillier defeated Derek Willis 11-3 in the fifth in the only match which went the distance. Willis and Colin Dearman, on what may be his final League appearance, each took one for Walton.
Walton B defeated Windsor Buzzards 9-1. Gavin Price and Pete Burrows took hat-tricks, and Paul Newbould two, with the Buzzards’ sole success coming from reserve Scott Campbell. Thus ends a season for the Buzzards in which they have battled hard but found the going just a little too tough. And alas, they finish as the only team in all three Divisions without a win to their name.
Windsor Eagles could only field two players against Walton C, and Mark Gale, Mark Ratcliffe and Paul Meikle took full advantage, warming up for their Cup Final appearance with a 10-0 win. Meikle defeated John Pattrick 11-6 in the fifth while Ratcliffe defeated the same player 11-4 in the fifth.
These results mean that Walton B finish sixth and the highest of the three Walton teams, seven points ahead of the seventh-placed ‘C’ team, and ten points ahead of the ‘A’ team in eighth position.
Just one result in Division Two saw Nomads Tigers take the last four matches of the evening to edge out Walton D 6-4, with every player picking up at least one point. Denes Somodi took his three for the Tigers, with Dave Miller and Zein Shafat taking one each, Shafat having a tight 11-9 in the decider victory over Paul Woolnough in match ten. Clive Allenby won a couple for Walton, with Woolnough and Mo Hardy picking up one each. Woolnough had another close match before edging out Miller 11-9 in the decider. The result means both teams finish level on 73 points but the Tigers take precedence, having won one more match.
* The last, and busiest, week of the League’s season kicks-off next Tuesday (2nd April) with the Handicap Knock-Out Cup final between Walton C and Windsor Hawks. It should be a cracking match and it would be good to see a healthy crowd supporting the two teams. The venue is the Brotherhood Hall, with play starting at 7.30 pm.
* The League’s season concludes the following weekend with the Closed Championships on Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th April at the Coastal Academy Sports Hall. For a third year the tournament is being sponsored by The Survey Initiative and the League is extremely grateful to Gary Cattermole for his most generous support of the event.
Play starts at 9.00 am on both Saturday and Sunday, with sixty-five players competing for fourteen titles. Nine events take place on Saturday and five on Sunday. The finals are scheduled to start from about 2.30 pm on Saturday and 3.00 pm on Sunday.
Further details, including information about check-in times, will be sent to all entrants by 2nd April.
RESULTS
Division 1
Walton B 9 Windsor Buzzards 1;
Walton A 3 Brotherhood A 7;
Windsor Eagles 0 Walton C 10.
Division 2
Nomads Tigers 6 Walton D 4.
Division 3
Brotherhood G 10 Walton E 0;
Brotherhood E 8 Windsor Harriers 2;
Nomads Bobcats 3 Brotherhood F 7.
