Summary
The KO Shield got underway for the 23/24 Winter season, with all teams who lost their first game in the KO Cup returning for another chance of silverware – well, in this case woodenware, with bits of silver.
That description isn’t meant to denigrate the Dave Yates Shield in any way shape or form – there’s a whole lot of players in the league who still remember playing with the great man and will be chomping at the bit to win this particular shield. I’m betting Mick Young will be among that group, as a photo of Dave looks down on the oche at the Nelson, and with Mick’s side as the sole representatives of Division One, they go into this competition as odds-on favourites to win – although a few other teams may beg to differ!
Malt Shovels 5 vs 2 Wythenshawe FC
Our first game features an all Division Three match up between second placed title challengers (is it too early to say that?) Malt Shovels, and fifth placed Wythenshawe FC. A recent league fixture between the two sides was a close affair, finishing 4-3 in favour of the Malts, and for the first four games of this cup tie, it looked like we would get a similar result.
The Malt Shovels flew out of the blocks with 2-0 wins for Rob Clark and James Golds over Chris O’Keefe and Liz Sweeney putting them in a strong position from the off. Wythenshawe FC were in no mood to roll over and have their bellies tickled however, and replied in kind with a pair of 2-0 wins of their own through Brian Sproston and Michael Wesemeyer who beat Rhyen Chay-O’Neil and Tayron Benjamin in games which totally test my ability to spell players names correctly. (Please tell me if any spellings aren’t correct – that also applies to anyone else who’s name I might be getting wrong).
Unfortunately for Wythenshawe that was it, as the Malts had three players, all with strong league performances so far this season still to come, and each of them took a 2-0 win to finish the game off. Game five saw James Roberts remain unbeaten against Division three opposition beating South Manchester Superleague captain Mike Swindells (and hopefully Mike will forgive me saying that its still weird saying that, even after several years of me not being available on a Sunday!!). Game six was won by Dave Hindmarsh against Gareth Sullivan (Dave’s only loss this season came against Mike Swindells in the corresponding league fixture), and the Shovels piled it on further, making it 5-2 with a final game win for the so far unbeaten Simon McBride over Chris McGrory.
Stretfordians 2 vs 5 St Antony’s
Division 2’s eighth placed team St Antony’s have been unlucky in a number of games this season, while Stretfordians lie in last position in Division three, and both teams went into this game without a league or cup win so far this season, so something had to give.
The Division three side took an early lead via a 2-1 win for Chrissy Thompson over Michael Brownrigg, but John Goodier quickly levelled it up by beating Morgan Nickson 2-0. The Saints went on to win the next two games by two legs to nil, courtesy of wins for the two form players for the team so far – Carl Paton and Shaun Gill.
Lindsey Rice, the top performer for Stretfordians so far this season, pulled it back to 3-2 with a 2-0 win against Ian Paton, but Gary Molloy sealed the game for the Saints after a deciding leg win against Colton Burke. With the game already won, Dom Batty ensured the Division Two side’s first win was a 5-2, when he beat Toni Nickson (Entwistle?) by two legs to nil, with a 104 finish to boot.
LMRCA 4 vs 3 Carters Arms
These two sides met in the league only seven days before, when the Division Two leaders LMRCA visited The Carters and were on the winning side of a close 4-3 result, and despite a reversal in venues and a drop in format to best of 3, the Carters can once again count themselves unlucky. With the teams relative league positions not really counting for much, The Carters once again fell just short, as LMRCA managed the same result and achieved it in exactly the same manner – the first four games shared, the next two to LMRCA, before Carters took the final game.
Tony Spilsbury took on James Flynn of the Carters in game one, and added another 5 ton plus scores to his overall total during a 2-1 win. Tony now has 35 across all competitions this the season from his eight games played – a total unmatched by any other player in any of the three divisions, regardless of total games played. With a couple of 180s to boot, its been a good season so far for him on a personal level.
Ryan Pollit brought the Carters level when beating Joe Davis 2-1, and a see-saw battle saw LMRCA back in front via Dave Brooks who beat Bob Mitchell 2-0, before it was once again all square as the Carters Dave Sills won a deciding leg against Roy Jervis. As happened in last weeks league fixture, Ron Cooke won his game to nil, this time against Gavin Halton, in a win which put LMRCA one away from victory – a victory which was assured when Derek Ostick also won 2-0 to beat Andrew Nicholson. Ryan Woods mustn’t like being on last – and certainly not against the Carters, as for the second week in succession, he fell to a defeat to nil, this time against Terry Caine to make the final score 4-3 to LMRCA.
Excelsior WMC 5 vs 2 Trafford SC
In what could be considered the upset of the round, Division Three’s sixth placed team, the Excelsior Working Men’s Club of Sale (to give them their full title) overcame Division Two’s fifth placed side, Trafford Social Club. Remarkably, this game was The Excels sixth home fixture out of seven matches played in all competitions so far this season.
Peter Ellison got the Excel underway with a 2-1 win against Liam Galvin, but a 2-0 win for Jake Neersoo against Danny Chua brought the Division Two side level, before Johnny Davies edged out Warren McCoubrey by 2 legs to 1 to put Trafford into the lead for the first time.
It turned out to be the only time that Trafford would lead in this game though, as the Excel first made it all square with Peter Sage taking a deciding against Kyle Wands, and then took the lead at 3-2 following a win for Brendan O’Shea over Alan Wands. Game Six ended Trafford’s KO Shield chances for another season when Georgio Corbett beat Rory Sullivan 2-1, and with the contest already over, the knockout blow to make it 5-2 over all was landed courtesy of a 2-0 Andy Cheetham win against Mark Leather.
The Nelson 7 vs 0 Bulls Head
The Bulls Head are sitting comfortably in third place in Division Three this season, but have had a torrid couple of weeks on the road which have seen heavy defeats during visits to the teams in first and second place in Division three, while this visit to Division One’s second placed Nelson will be one they will want to forget in a hurry after being whitewashed. They will be back in action with trip to Stretfordians in the next league fixture in the fourth instalment of five consecutive away games, and will hope to get back on the points trail to maintain their promotion attempt.
Whilst it was a 7-0 defeat with only one leg won for the Division 3 side, looking at the stats suggest that neither team was on top form and both could reasonably be expected, on the whole, to have scored and finished better.
2-0 wins for Ant Hargreaves Jr and Mick Young put the Nelson ahead, before in game 3, in what statistically looks the best game of the night, Andrew Day hit four ton plus scores during a deciding leg win against Ian Fish who landed the most tons (6) of any player on the night from either team.
Pete Evans was up next for the Nelson in game 4 and was looking for a win which would secure a Quarter Final berth in the Dave Yates Shield – and despite getting the 2-0 win he needed, the occasion clearly got to him as he needed 55 darts to secure the leg that won the game and the match. From there, the Nelson tried accelerating away in first gear, with 2-0 wins for Joe Kelly and Mick Cooney against Gareth Shaw and Steve Hazelhurst (although Joe did manage a 21 dart leg to be fair).
The final game saw Dylan Wimbury take on Alan Simper who had the unenviable task of trying to avoid the clean-sweep against a player who not only finished unbeaten and top of the Division One 180 list in the Summer, but also has only one defeat to his name this season. Dylan must have been in rounds with Pete Evans however, as although he did what was needed in securing the whitewash with a 2-0 win, he uncharacteristically took 43 darts to get the double to end the game and the cup tie.
The Quarter Final line up is complete, and will see Division Three represented by The Malt Shovels, Excelsior WMC, and The Bent Brook; Division Two will be represented by St Antony’s, LMRCA, Urmston SC and The Volunteer and completing the line up, Division One’s sole representatives in this competition this season – The Nelson.
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