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News Release - BSMTTC News 70

Dateline: 19 November 2017

More Cup Action

The 2nd Round of the respective Divisional Cup competitions of the L&DTTL took place this week, with the Club having 4 teams in action. The strange thing was that only 1 of these teams had been in action in Round 1! The other 3 receiving byes.

Each division of the L&DTTL has it's own cup competition and the Club was represented in 4 out of the 5 divisions in this round of the competition.

A brief report on each team is below, but it is fair to say that the Club has not enjoyed its best success in the respective Divisional Cup competitions!

Keith Dudley holding the Forrest Cup (Division 4 Cup) won last season by the Bath St E Team. Sadly the Club won't be retaining this trophy!

The Readman Cup (Division 1)

The Club's 1st Team were in action this week, with a place in the Division 1 Cup Semi-Final at stake. Captain Dave Roberts was able to bring in Keith Williams for this match to give arguably their strongest line-up against Merseyside Police currently sitting 3rd in the Division 1 table. Keith duly won his two singles but neither Dave nor Dermott were able to replicate his efforts resulting in a 2:5 victory for the visiting policemen.

The Rumjahn Cup (Division 2)

With our top team in Division 2, the A Team, having been knocked out of this competition in Round 1, this week gave the opportunity to the B Team to try their luck. It has been a difficult season so far for Brian Crolley's team in this Division. Especially as they didn't expect to be in Division 2! But with real spirit the team have fought for every match, and no more so than in this cup tie against East Wavertree A. And with a little piece of luck the score line might have been so different. In the first set of the night Andy Cheung just lost out in the 5th end after having been 2:0 up. In sets 2 and 5 Brian twice lost out 9:11 in the 5th. 3 sets had escaped by the narrowest of margins. The teams only success came in the 4th set with Mal Kent winning an epic encounter 11:8 in the 5th. A tremendous match, but in the end it was the visitors who moved comfortably on to the semi-final 1:5 in favour of the East Wavertree side. But at least they take a good photo!

The Hyde Cup (Division 3)

In Round 1 Ian McElwee's D Team lost to Cadwa A in a very good encounter. Somehow, Dave Noden's C Team found themselves facing the same opposition in Round 2! And what a match this proved to be. And the good news, with a completely different outcome. Darren got the visitors off to a positive start with a 3 straight win. Further wins followed for Dave and Ted in sets 3, 4 and 5 to leave the visitors 1:4 up. Darren then narrowly missed out in the 5th end in a titanic struggle with the home No.1 before Ted sealed the match. An excellent victory for the visitors 2:5. Dave and his men move on to the semi-final.

The Stamp Cup (Division 5)

Having already come through Round 1 Des Logan and his G Team faced a visit to Wavertree Labour for Round 2. Although the two sides were fairly evenly matched unfortunately they visitors could not repeat their Round 1 performance, slipping to a 5:1 defeat. A good effort, and the only team to have so far actually played two matches in the competition!

Overall it means the Club has just 1 side at the semi-final stage of the respective cup competitions. Maybe next year........