5 matches to report on
Starting with Monday the 8th, the F team travelled to the Gables to take on the Div 3 favourites previosuly unbeaten. We were not fazed by the opposition and inflicted a most unexpected whitewash on them. James Marshall and James Coney got the ball rolling before skipper Dave Price’s superb win ended the 100% record of his opponent. The icing on the cake was provided when Gee Cross outplayed their top player to complete the whitewash.
Tuesday the 9th saw four matches, with three at St Marys and one at Fenton.
In division 2 our C team came unstuck at home against Cheddleton B, losing 1.5-2.5. Gee Cross added another win to keep up her 100% league record (5/5), and Andy Raeburn drew on board 2.
Also in division 2 our D team managed to overcome a strong Stafford team thanks to wins from captain David Lambton (who has an unbeaten 8/10) and Chinenye, while Cyrus drew on top board. This win cemented the D team’s top of the table position with 16pts from 10 matches, opening up a 3 pts lead from Fenton B who have played 11 matches.
The main event at St Mary’s was the Open Cup Final against the holders, Alsager, in a repeat of last season’s final where we were narrowly beaten. This time we won convincingly 5-1. See separate report.
At Fenton our E team faced their C team in a divison 3 match. Unfortunately we came off second best losing 1-3, with our only win coming from Julian Hawthorne on top board.
In addition to the three matches at St Mary’s there was another stack of internal tournament games taking place. In division 3 of the club championship there were wins for George Jelliss, Matthew and Mike. With leader Jamie having played all his games (9.5/11), Mike is the only player who could possibly catch him and currently has 5/6.
There were 3 further rated games played, including another potential new member George Bowkett who wass attending for the first time while on Easter holiday from university.