Brotherhood A of Division One eased their way into the final of the Clacton & District League’s Handicap Cup with a 5-2 victory against Division Three side Brotherhood E, the first time since 2007 that a Brotherhood A team will have featured at this stage of the competition.

The ‘A’ team introduced Alan Burgess (pictured above, photo by Roger Hance), the only player remaining from Brotherhood A’s glory days of the early 2000s, into the Cup foray for the first time this season and he rewarded his team with an unbeaten performance.

As often happens, the team which takes the doubles often succeeds and it did so here, Gary Stallwood and Russell Hillier winning the opening doubles, and Hillier and Burgess taking the middle doubles.

The result ends a brave Cup run by the youngsters of Brotherhood E in their first League season, having endured some late nights during their campaign, a tribute to their fighting qualities against higher Division opponents.

In the final, Brotherhood A will take on Nomads Leopards, the first Division Three side to get to the final for 15 years.

In their semi-final, the Leopards enjoyed a surprisingly straightforward 5-1 victory over Division Two Windsor Kestrels, another unfashionable side who’ve enjoyed an excellent Cup run. Bob Jillins and Dominic Joannou remained undefeated, with the Kestrels’ sole success an Allen Denyer (-1) win over Stu Wilkinson (+1) 2-11, 11-9, 6-11, 12-10, 15-13.

* In Division One of the League, Nomads Lions kept their chances of finishing runners-up mathematically alive after defeating Windsor Hawks 10-0.

Adam Cuthbert, Ethan Lloyd and Adam Wilkin all stayed unbeaten, Wilkin having a close 11-8 in the fifth win over John Barton and Lloyd an even closer 14-12 in the fifth success against Felipe Rodriguez. With one match to play, the Lions are in second place, three points ahead of Windsor Eagles, with the Eagles still having two matches to play.

The all-Walton clash between the ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams ended 7-3 in favour of Walton B, Pete Burrows winning three, Gavin Price two and Graham Buxton one. Their closest victory was Burrows’ 12-10 in the decider victory over Paul Meikle, but all three ‘C’ team points came from matches which went the distance. Jason Gale defeated both Price and Buxton by the same score, 11-7 in the decider, whilst Meikle edged out Buxton 13-11 in the decider.

The result confirms what has been inevitable for some time – that Walton C will definitely finish bottom

An important match in Division Two saw Walton D defeat Brotherhood B 7-3, a result which further complicates the position at the top of the table. Andy Foster and Clive Allenby remained unbeaten for the winners, Foster inflicting a first defeat of the season, 3-1 (8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-12), on Mark Salter. But Foster’s tightest match was against the dogged Paul Alden, the Walton player emerging a narrow 13-11 in the fifth victor.

So the position at the top now sees Windsor Buzzards on 91 points, level with Walton D who’ve played a game more, but six points ahead of Brotherhood B on 85 points, Brotherhood also having a match in hand – although one is against the Buzzards.

It was also 7-3 as Lawford defeated Brotherhood D. Richard Spence, Charlie Denholm and Ian Sherwood all took a couple but none of them could get the better of Kevin Pryor who took a valuable three points for Brotherhood which lifts them out of the bottom two places.

* Details about check-in times for the League’s Closed Championships, will be sent out to all competitors by Tuesday 28th March. Any player who does not receive this information should get in touch with Peter White. The Championships, sponsored by The Survey Initiative, will be held over the weekend of 1st and 2nd April at the Clacton Coastal Academy.  

RESULTS

HANDICAP CUP
Semi-finals
Brotherhood A 5 Brotherhood E 2
Nomads Leopards 5 Windsor Kestrels 1

LEAGUE
Division One
Windsor Hawks 0 Nomads Lions 10
Walton C 3 Walton B 7

Division Two
Brotherhood B 3 Walton D 7
Brotherhood D 3 Lawford 7