News And Updates

The 2007 Birkenhead & Wirral Division One Champions, Gladstone, travelled to Ashton Park last night and showed their class with a 15 shot win against a Vics side hopeful of causing an upset. After having five winners at Gladstone last week and only losing by 38 shots the Vics had hopes of at least winning the home fixture if not the aggregate point. As it turned out however the Vics could only muster 4 home winners and despite some excellent games the Vics eventually lost by 15 shots. Robby Franklin was back to his best last night on the heavy Vics green with a fine 21-10 win that was followed by Neil Sherbrooke , making it 5 wins out 5 in this tough League, winning 21-11. Mally Johnson had a superb 21-11 win against Nick Burridge to continue his good home form and John Devlin also had an excellent 21-11 victory to complete the four home winners on the night. John Lloyd 17-21, Karl Sherbrooke 16-21 and Ian Sherbrooke 15-21 all had chances to add to the Vics winners but eventually just fell short after good games. Gladstone will take some beating on this form and once again the Birkenhead Division One race looks to be between them and Higher Tranmere. Next up for the Vics is a Rose Bowl tie on Monday against Bebington Park with a massive 96 shots to pull back from the handicappers.

The Vics Wallasey League side powered on at the top of the table after beating Gladstone Squirrels on Thursday to complete 2 matches in 3 days without a loser against their plucky opponents. The Vics had a 153 shot win that included 6 single figure winners in Robby Fitzpatrick 21-02, John Lloyd 21-04, Brian Leonard and Matt Gilmore 21-05, Robby Hall 21-06 and Steve Nugent 21-09. Robby Franklin and Bill Atkinson both won 21-11 with Karl Sherbrooke, still hoping for the quick greens to arrive, winning 21-12. Neil Sherbrooke struggled somewhat surprisingly to win 21-16 and Jamie Fitzpatrick was involved in the best game of the night before finally winning 21-18. One sobering thought for the Vics Skipper to chew over in the next few days is the prospect of the handicap the Vics will have to give Third Division, Sacred Heart “C” in the Presidents Cup First Round. 153 shot wins over First Division opponents does not make it easy for the Handicap Committee to reach a fair figure for both sides !!!!

The Vics afternoon “A” team Centenary Shield match against R.N.A. next Wednesday has now been switched to the excellent Pensby green because of the unavailability of the Neston green.

The Vics afternoon “B” and “C” teams had virtually carbon copy displays on Wednesday when both teams lost their away fixtures to teams they had beaten by 83 shots at home the previous week. Both teams had 4 away winners each with the “B” team victories at Wallasey RBL being provided by Bill Purcell 21-14(obviously a worried man now he is on a winning streak), Dave Bosworth 21-16, John Brandon (still unbeaten) 21-17 and Derek Thomas 21-18. The “C” teams 4 winners at Hoylake Marine were Stan Ridgway 21-10, Don Ibbotson 21-12 (also still unbeaten), Calvert Jones 21-17 and Arthur Fagan 21-18. The “B” team having beaten Wallasey RBL 205-122 last week lost 178-191 on Wednesday with the “C” team 210-127 winners at home last week losing 168-183 at Hoylake Marine on Wednesday. The away form of all 3 afternoon teams needs to improve dramatically if the club wants all three teams in as high a Division as possible when the League is re-structured next season.

The Vics afternoon “A” team had a ridiculously easy victory against Albany on Wednesday at West Kirby and must still be wondering why it is that we can win by 100 shots at home but lose to the same opponents by 17 shots away last week. On a slow Ashton Park green, the Vics had 6 single figure winners with Elwyn Williams producing a best of the day 21-03 winning card. Billy Atkinson won 21-05 with a hat trick of 21-07 wins being provided by Eddie Clayburn, Peter Dodd and Andrew Stratton. Robby Franklin won 21-08 and Mally Johnson had a 21-11 win to leave Keith Etches and Dick Peake as the last two winners with both being involved in excellent games. Keith recovered from a slow start to triumph 21-19 and Dick ran out a 21-20 winner after also struggling at one stage. I am getting some stick from some quarters when I keep on harping on about our lack of away form (I do include myself in the criticism) but until we start winning away from home we will not be able to challenge at the top end of the table. Hopefully we will be able to prosper on the excellent Neston green next week when we have to give a 40 shot start to R.N.A. in the Centenary Shield.

The Vics had nine winners on Wednesday night in a 65 shot victory against Albany in the Dr. Dawson Victory Cup First Round to set up a Second Round match with Tixall. Playing at Kings 2000 the Vics had Frank O’Neill and Mal Andrews on top form with 21-04 and 21-08 victories. A couple of 21-10 wins for Mally Johnson and Neil Sherbrooke were quickly followed by 21-11 victories for John Devlin and Robby Franklin. Karl Sherbrooke settled for a decent 21-12 win as did brother Ian and John Lloyd completed the Vics winners with a solid 21-15 winning card. A fine display overall from the Vics saw them easily overhaul the 12 shot handicap and hopefully the Vics can go a long way in a competition we won in 2002 and 2006.

Despite the ear-bashing given to the Vics and Wallasey C.G.B.A. Secretary, Peter Dodd, by Skipper Mally Johnson and others, the Vics Wallasey side had all twelve winners against Gladstone Squirrels last night to complete a 252-201 victory and with the plucky Gladstone side also receiving 72 from the “rogues” on the Handicap committee, the Vics actually outscored their opponents by 123 shots. The Vics had 5 single figure winners in Matt Gilmore (21-02), Jamie Fitzpatrick (21-05), Steve Nugent (21-07), John Lloyd ( 21-08) and Neil Sherbrooke (21-09). Robby Franklin bounced back after a lean spell to win 21-10 and Robby Fitzpatrick posted a 21-12 winning card. Billy Atkinson completed a comfortable 21-13 win and Brian Leonard won 21-14. Skipper Mally Johnson must have been tearing his hair out when Ian Sherbrooke (21-15), Robby Hall (21-16), and John Devlin (21-18) allowed their opponents a rare sight of a possible victory. Goodness knows what kind of stick I might take when the handicaps are announced for the semi finals but then again I live in hope that Malcolm might one day realise that the Wallasey Committee are not out to stop the Vics winning at all cost but are trying to at least make some kind of a fair match out of some obvious mismatches.

The Vics afternoon “C” had ten winners out of ten on Friday in their home fixture with Hoylake Marine to complete a fine 83 shot win and hopefully give them the confidence to go to Hoylake and actually win the return fixture this week. Ray Farrell was the best for the Vics with an excellent 21-06 win followed by a couple of equally impressive 21-09 wins for Ted Lawrence and Calvert Jones. Arthur Fagan and Don Ibbotson both posted fine 21-10 winning cards with Eddie Dodd coming in with a 21-14 victory. Stan Ridgway and Harold Rutter both had 21-16 wins and with Reg Armitage winning 21-17 it was left to Skipper Brian Buck to show his team how to win and get plenty of practice at the same time. Brian managed to do this with his marathon but vital 21-20 victory to leave the Vics in a strong position regarding the extra point but hopefully not too over confident in the return. Every match is different and full concentration will be required on the tricky little round green at Hoylake this week.

The Vics Birkenhead League side travelled to 2007 Division One Champions, Gladstone on Friday and with 5 winners on the night, have given themselves a slight chance of gaining the extra point in the return fixture at West Kirby this coming Friday. Mal Andrews, returning to his former club for the first time with the Vics, showed his ex team mates just how to play the excellent Church Road green with a fine 21-10 win. Neil Sherbrooke continued his all conquering Birkenhead League form, to join Mal on four wins in four games, with a 21-14 victory. Both Ian Sherbrooke and John Devlin compiled fine 21-16 wins and Colin Saville came through a tough game to complete the five Vics winners, when he posted a good 21-18 winning card. Brian Leonard, 19-21, was the best of the Vics losers but the team as a whole have given themselves a chance, provided they play well, to overcome the Champions on Friday.

The Vics Wallasey League side travelled the short distance to Hoylake Central on Thursday and returned with a 62 shot win against their newly promoted opponents. Steve Nugent was the star of the show with an excellent 21-06 win and unusually for the Vics in this league he proved to be the only single figure winner on the night. Anthony Thompson was the next best with a fine 21-11 win followed by Nel Sherbrooke’s 21-12 victory. Both Bill Atkinson and Jamie Fitzpatrick posted 21-13 winning cards and Robby Franklin and Brian Leonard both won 21-14. Dave Gilmore and John Lloyd both had tough games before finally winning 21-17 to complete 9 Vics winners on the night but credit must go to Hoylake Central for their display and they will surely win plenty of home games this season. This win takes the Vics into an early lead at the top of Division One which is where Skipper Mally Johnson wants to be at this time of year.