There have been 3 matches this week, with the F team’s match at Newcastle already reported, leaving the D team’s match at Kidsgrove in division 4 and the C team match at Cheddleton C.
The Dees kept up their excellent away record with a narrow win over mid-table rivals Kidsgrove. Thanks to wins on boards 3 and 4 by junior Harry Gardiner and skipper Les Hall, victory was confirmed when the experienced Doug Barnett added the necessary draw for a 2.5-1.5 result which leaves the D team in 4th place with 10 pts from 11 matches, some way behind the leaders Newcastle D on 16pts from 9.
Friday night as always means another match at Cheddleton as our C team went to play the host’s C team to fight for an unlikely chance to win the division. A win for Chedd C would have handed the title to our Bees. It was a night for the black pieces to have the dominance, as Amy Lovatt controlled from the opening for a win on board 2, before white’s only contribution came from Crewe captain Dave Price with an important draw on board 3 having given up the ascendancy. Julian Bulbeck gained his best result of the season to date with a board 4 win to ensure match victory as the board 1 game went to Chedd. This result guarantees a Crewe 1,2 at the top of the table with the Bees odds-on favourites to retain their title now.
Next week is an “all-ticket sell out” at the Mals, when Crewe “A” play Fenton B, and our Perry Cup teams have semi-finals against Cheddleton and Newcastle.