Harriers Reach Divisional Trophy Final

Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘A’ this week made it through to the Final of the Reg Wilcox Handicap Trophy for Division Two sides. Reaching the final has been no mean feat when you consider that the two other teams in Group A currently sit first and second in the Division Two table and that the Harriers side have beaten both teams without having to rely on the advantage of their handicap points.
The victory that saw them qualify for the final came against a Sparken Hill Eagles side chasing promotion to Division One but on the night they were no match for the Harriers side who have adapted well to this format of cup competition. The Harriers team of Dilip Malkan, Paul Linfield and Dean Marsh scored 348 points on the table whilst the Eagles could only muster up 307 and when both teams handicap points were added it gave the Harriers the win by 529 points to 420.
Their opponents in the final are still unknown as one match in Group B was postponed this week leaving 3 teams out of the 4 teams still in with a chance of making it through to the final. The one match that was played was between Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘B’ and Manton Sports with the Harriers coming out on top and ending any hopes that the Sports side had of making it through.to the final. There was nothing between the Harriers side of Dan Saul, Neil Fisher and Dave Lyus and the Sports side of Keith Smith, John Lowde and Steve Dix and amazingly, after 18 games up to 21 points the two teams had scored exactly the same amount of points on the table of 329! So, it was all down to the handicap points with the Harriers having 264 points to add to their total and Sports only having 219, giving the Harriers ‘B’ the win by 593 points to 548.
In the MBE Handicap Trophy for Division Three sides, Worksop Welfare Real Deal put themselves in with a chance of qualifying for the final from Group A with a good win over Sparken Hill Nightingales. The Real Deal trio of Tom Ogley, Michael Candy and Jerry Collins all played well, managing to amass 289 points on the table against Worksop Welfare Harriers ‘C’ who had Ethan Shevill, Cliff Briggs and Graham Stent in their ranks and posted a total of 343. Real Deal had 231 handicap points to add on with the Harriers having 146 which wasn’t quite enough to stop Real Deal winning the contest by 520 points to 489 and like in other Divisional Trophy competitions, Real Deal will have to wait on other matches being played to find out their fate.
In Group B Sparken Hill Falcons defeated their club colleagues the Nightingales by 509 points to 466 to make it two wins from two in their group but must now wait on re-arranged games to see if they make it through to the final. In their latest win, Mick Potter, Luke Barraclough and Neil Penny all played well and totalled 375 points scored on the table out of a possible 378 whilst restricting their opponents to 229 to put themselves in a great position to win the match and when the handicap points were added at the end it gave the Falcons the win by 509 to 466.
In the other game in Group B Sparken Hill Pigeons were playing their first game in the competition due to having to postpone their opening two games. The Pigeons made up for lost by convincingly beating Sparken Hill Robins by a 120 points with the final score being 585 points to the Pigeons and 465 to the Robins. The Pigeons side of Sam Liversidge, Evan Bownes and Zak Berridge played really well to score 353 points on the table whilst keeping their opponents down to just 287 and when another 232 points were added to their score through the handicapping points system it was just too much for the Robins and gave the Pigeons a comfortable victory.
David Hooton Handicap Trophy Results: Group A - Sparken Hill Starlings 456 Clowne ‘B’ 559. Group B – Worksop Welfare Snipers 591 Clowne ‘A’ 263 (2 Players) Snipers Qualify For Final