he
final rounds of the competition for the Whitbread Individual Trophy were shot
last Tuesday at the Home Guard Club, Tiddington. Colin Fulford shot a mini
possible (25.1) against Chris Green in the delayed first round match before
getting knocked out in the quarter final round by Paul Clingan who shot another
mini possible (25.2) to Colin’s 23.2. Marc Anderton shot well setting a score of
22 for Kath Williams to chase. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite find the bull
so Marc progressed to the semi final. Andy Smith got a pass through to the semi
final when the current holder, Steve Ray, did not show because of holiday
commitments. New shooter Adam Clarke couldn't seem to find the form he showed in
the first rounds and was eliminated by Sam Goodman who shot 21.2. In the semi final rounds shooters had seven pellets, Andy Smith won the toss and decided to shoot first. He set Marc Anderton a score of 33.3 to beat but this was too much for him. Sam Goodman shot 31.1 against Paul Clingan but experience shone through when Paul shot his second possible this season scoring 35.2 points.
Paul Clingan won the toss and elected to shoot first. Not wanting to know his score Andy Smith left the room knowing he would probably need a possible to win the competition. Andy stepped up to the target and shot a 34.4 hitting a four with his last shot just missing out on a possible. However at this point Andy was informed that he had scored enough to win and had beaten Paul Clingan by just 0.2 points. A nail biting end to the competition.
Last Thursday’s matches marked the turnaround point in the League fixture list. Top of the League and so far unbeaten this season, Binton A were away to MEB. Both teams had eight shooters and had to drop their lowest score. For Binton this was 29 but a mere 26 for MEB. First to shoot for Binton, Andy Smith, and anchor man Will Cemis shot 33 and with 32 from Chris Reed, Michelle Dale, John Parrott and Neil Beningfield the match was put out of the reach of MEB whose best scores were 32 from Sheila Clarke and Fred Williams. Gordon Spencer 31, Kath Williams 30, Jan Beattie 29 and Oscar Thornton 28 all stayed out of the threes but MEB’s total of 211 against Binton’s 225, was not enough to win the match.
Home Guard had eight shooters when Avon SC went to Tiddington. Both teams had some loose threes but Bill Gately 30 and Steve Hodges 31 had the best scores in this match. Mark Taplin, Richard Mills, Jackie Mills and Sam Goodman all shot 29 and Haydn Taplin countered his threes with bulls for 28. Avon struggled without Steve Ray and Colin Fulford. The best they could do was 29 from Bill Fleming, Richard Groom and Marc Anderton. Home Guard came out winners with 205 points, 12 more than last time the two teams met, to Avon’s 198 points.
Wilmcote did the double when they met Clifford WMC Paul Clingan had the highest score of the week with 34. Andrew Clingan shot 32, Andrea Norris 31 and 30 from Tim Stephens and John Maycock contributed to Wilmcote’s total of 212 points. Clifford’s shooters had some bad luck. Ben Huckfield shot 31 and Trevor Morris 30 but the rest of the team seemed to lack concentration scoring twenty somethings. Wilmcote won with 212 to Clifford’s 197 points.
Avenue SSC had only six shooters find their way to Binton for their match against Binton B. The team shot consistently with 29 from Wayne Harris, Paul Seabury and Jo Everett, 28 from Paul Nixon-Barron and 27 from the rest. Chris Green started well for the home team with 30 with 29 from Joe Powell and Ben Chamberlain. Loose threes pulled the other scores down. Roy Clarke was the last to shoot needing 29 which should have been within his capability, to win the match Unfortunately, luck was not on his side and he only managed the bull once to score 27. Avenue came out winners by a narrow margin, 196 to 195 points.
Matches tonight, Avenue vs Avon; Binton A vs Clifford; Home Guard vs MEB and Wilmcote vs Binton B.