Report by Olly Nunn
The league is now done and dusted,
and it’s Station Railwaymen who have successfully defended their title. Congratulations
to Station!
It’s now on to the cup competitions. The last few weeks saw the finalists of the Team Knockout and Team Plate confirmed, with the winners of both to be decided in May. This week was the Pairs Championship. Two tournaments were held, one at Station Hotel and another at the Woodbourne. The winner of each would go through to play on Finals Day.
At Station, there was one preliminary
round match, between Gav Pilling and Tom Sawford and Mick Hulley and Russ
Simmons. Pilling and Sawford were runners-up in last year’s championship, and
they would get their title challenge up and running with a 2-1 win. This was soon
followed by another win in the quarter-finals, as Sawford and Pilling saw off
Lewis Wroe and Logan Higgins in straight legs. On the other side of the draw,
their teammates Geoff Higgs and Pete Roebuck also booked their places in the
last four, beating the Raging Bull pairing of Bri Jones and Adam Chadwick 2-0. There
were two Mouses-Thorns clashes in the quarters and one win for each team, as
John Cartledge and James Thomas fell 2-0 to Josh Hall and Oliver Parfrement
while Jimmy Haslam and Steve Caley got past Dylan Farmer and Dan Ashton in
straight legs.
Moving onto the semi-finals, in
the top half Higgs and Roebuck edged past Hall and Parfrement 2-1 to advance,
while Haslam and Caley defeated Sawford and Pilling to join them. Roebuck and
Haslam are both already guaranteed a chance at some silverware, as they are due
to play in the Memorial Cup final, but here was an opportunity with their
teammates to play for more.
Ultimately, it would be Higgs and
Roebuck who secured their spot on Finals Day, with a 2-0 win seeing them
through to play the winner at the Woodbourne for the title.
At the Woodbourne, the Mouses’
Glynn Harris and Tom Wright got off to a winning start in the quarter-finals,
with a 2-1 win against Matt Pierce and Jason Marsh. Joining them in the semis
would be the Accy D’s team of Tom Jepson and Jack Newton, who also came through
by a 2-1 scoreline. In the bottom half of the draw, defending champion Luke
Davies and his partner Jack Lewis were up against their fellow Accy D’s Joe
Hopkins and Dan Booth. In the battle of the Uni Lads, it was Hopkins and Booth who
came out on top, with a 2-1 win seeing them through to the next round. Their
opponents would be Foxhill’s Ben Cooper and Jack Walker, who beat Will Lavery
and Chris Keane 2-0.
Both semi-finals were close,
coming down to last-leg deciders and ending 2-1. But, in the end, it was Harris
and Wright and Cooper and Walker who got past the two Accy D’s pairs, setting
up a Mouses versus Foxhill final. Harris and Wright would come out on top in
that tie, with a two legs to nil win giving them a chance to play for the
title.
With both tournaments played, the final was confirmed – Geoff Higgs and Pete Roebuck versus Glynn Harris and Tom Wright. They will play on 25 May, and one pair will add their names to the roll of honour of Pairs Championship winners.
