One major upset in Tunningley Shield

The league’s premier cup competition entered its second round stage but only really threw up one major cup upset.

Third division Ryton Park Dragons overcoming club colleagues and first division side Ryton Park Bees.

Despite the Dragons occupying bottom spot in Division Three and currently without a single point in the league all season they put in a fabulous performance to overcome much stronger opponents.

The Dragons side which made up of Justin Flear, Andrew Bell and Lee Banton battled hard all night to just amass enough points which when added to the handicap points at the end meant they won the match by just five single points.

With the handicapping system the Dragons side must be considered amongst the favourites to reach this year’s final.

Mention must also go to the Bees team of Steve Hardy, Joe Else and Matthew Lemon who won every game on the night scoring maximum points in the process, but as it turned out the points conceded throughout the night were just a few too many to overcome the handicap.

Another Ryton Park side that sprang a surprise this week were the Adders.

Despite sitting firmly at the foot of the Division One table with nine defeats from nine games this season, they managed to overcome an MBE side that are currently much higher in the division.

For the Adders, captain Andy Lee was well supported by both John Hallgarth and Mike Nocivelli and despite being outscored by 365 points to 277 still managed to beat MBE by 37 points after the handicap points were added.

For MBE Mark Stanfield, Dave Marsh and Mick Bell all scored heavily but in the end it just wasn’t enough to overcome the handicap points awarded to the Adders.

Second Division Manton Sports are also through to the last eight of the competition with a routine win over third division DH Redlands Rookies.

Phil Fisher, Alan Wilson and Keith Smith won all of their games to ensure that the Sports side achieved the maximum points and, despite the Rookies being awarded 130 handicap points, they still went down by a scoreline of 378 points to 349.

Bob Atkinson was the pick of the players for the Rookies scoring 87 of the 219 points before the handicap was added.

Ryton Park Eagles had all but lost their match against Stanley Street ‘A’ before a ball had been hit as they were a player short which meant Stanley Street had already scored 126 points without reply.

Richard Robinson and Joanne Drew fought hard for the Eagles but were never going to overcome the deficit and a Stanley Street side consisting of Nigel Stent, Peter Eyre and Alex Millward and even when the handicap points were added they still lost by 75 points.

Other Mike Tunningley Shield second round results: Ryton Park Cougars 360 DTH Redlands Dynamos 314, DTH Redlands Joggers 369 DTH Redlands Allsorts 342.