20/07/2005 by admin.

Anthony O’Neill and Robby Hall provided the much needed cutting edge for the Vics last night, when a starting handicap of 48 shots had to be overcome, in the Wallasey Association Presidents Cup quarter final against Harrison Park. Anthony, with a commanding 21-08 win and Robby with an equally impressive 21-09 victory where the 2 big winners the Vics needed to push on to the semi finals and another clash with Queens Royal. Neil Sherbrooke continued his impressive season with a 21-10 victory on a slowish Hoylake Central green. Robby Franklin 21-11 and Robby Fitzpatrick 21-12 provided good cards when needed in the middle 4 and Matty Gilmore came off with a good 21-13 win. Dave Gilmore had a harder tussle before winning 21-16 and both Eddie Clayburn and Karl Sherbrooke battled through to vital 21-17 victories. The closest game of the night saw Anthony Thompson eventually win 21-20 after a titanic struggle. The Vics went through by 12 shots in the end and the question on everyone’s lips now will be what the Handicap committee will come up with in the semi final after giving the Vics a hard time throughout this competition so far. Skipper Mally Johnson, understandably delighted with this performance from his side, again proved to the club secretary the value of sticking to his selection policies. Mally must not be allowed to give up the captaincy at the end of the season as he is the only person in the club with the skin of a rhino and able to withstand the pressure of difficult selection problems. This was a tremendous victory for the Vics and sets them up to revenge their only defeat of the season so far, when they meet Queens Royal in the semi final.

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20/07/2005 by admin.

The Vics afternoon “A” team progressed to the next round of the Centenary Cup with a narrow 2 shot victory over Birkenhead Park at a lightening quick Cammell Laird green last Thursday. Given the task of pulling back a 40 shot handicap, the Vics had 8 winners from the 10 games to squeeze into the next round. Super silky Robby Franklin 21-04 and majestic Mally Johnson 21-08 were the crucial winners for the Vics in a very tight match scorewise. Bernie Owen and Peter Walker posted good 21-12 winning cards and Andrew Stratton came through a 21-16 winner. Elwyn Williams managed a tight 21-17 victory, with Dick Peake coming through a tough encounter 21-18. Eddie Clayburn was involved in the closest game of the day, finally coming out on top 21-20 after having seen a big lead whittled away. A good performance in the end by the Vics and hopefully our league form can improve on the back of this display.

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20/07/2005 by admin.

The Vics Birkenhead League side suffered another disastrous away defeat last night, this time by 75 shots at Oxton Conservative Club. The Vics had only 2 winners on the night, the mercurial Neil Sherbrooke and the rejuvenated Mally Johnson. Neil had a 21-16 win in another fine display, running out from 09-16 down and Mally in winning 21-18 showed us all that this is another green to his liking. Since his heavy defeat to Higher Tranmere a few weeks back Mally has won all his games and is indeed in inspired form at the moment. Of the rest of the side last night Bob Jones 17-21 and Dick Peake 18-21 performed quite well. Special mention must go to Brian Buck appearing somewhat reluctantly in another away game as a late stand in, Brian bowled well to only go down 17-21 at the end. The Vics desparately need to strenghen this particular side next season as we have too many inconsistent performers at this level to mount any kind of serious challenge to the top 5 clubs.

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18/07/2005 by admin.

The afternoon “C” team duly completed their expected home victory against Capenhurst “C” to claim the extra point but it was not as easy as some expected. In winning by 25 shots it was a comfortable enough victory but Capenhurst put up some fine performances to keep the Vics on their toes. Stan Evans and Bill Spragget produced wonderful 21-11 wins, with both displaying good skills on a difficult green at West Kirby. Skipper Eric Neal, fully rested after a good holiday in Italy, gave a fine performance in a 21-13 victory. Reg Armitage completed a double victory over these opponents when winning 21-16 and there was a welcome 21-17 win for the returning Brian Buck. It is good to see Brian back at the club after his wanderings in Yorkshire but he still hasn’t changed his views and remains an Everton supporter. Tony Ryding having been praised for his ability last week, struggled through his game before coming out on top with a very close 21-20 win. It is good to see Chris Williams finally overcoming an illness dogged season and he completed another victory with a fine 21-16 win. The “C” team can be proud of their efforts in a higher league this season, with the constant changing of the team with players required for the “B” team on a regular basis disrupting selection. Next up Thingwall “B” at home this Friday.

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18/07/2005 by admin.

The afternoon “C” team produced another battling away performance, to only lose by 9 shots at Capenhurst “C” last Tuesday. With 6 winners on the day the Vics will surely be expecting to win the return fixture for the extra point. Bill Powell again played brilliantly to record a 21-11 win and Bernie Davies, in winning 21-13, showed us that we are missing a good addition to the club because of his work commitments keeping him from playing regularly. Eddie Dodd resumed winning ways with a fine 21-17 win and there were two hard games for Bill Spraggett and Chris Williams before they both came out on top 21-19. Reg Armitage had to go the full distance in his game and eventually triumphed 21-20. Another fine away performance from the “C” team and surely it won’t be too long before one of these close matches produces an away win.

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18/07/2005 by admin.

The afternoon “C” team put up a fine performance against Albany “C” away, to only lose by 2 shots but this was sufficient to easily claim the vital extra point. Chris Williams again showed his class in a fine 21-10 victory followed closely by Bill Powell coming in with a 21-12 win. Bill continues to prove his skill well into his eighties and still amazes everyone with his enthusiasm for the game. Alan Flaxon, in winning 21-14, left everyone wondering why he doesn’t want to play more league games. The Vics final winner of the afternoon, Tony Ryding a 21-16 victor this time, proved that he is a loss to the “A” and “B” teams this year, with his unavailability due to work commitments. Reg Armitage 16-21, Andy Fergus 18-21 and stand in skipper Bill Spraggett 20-21 all ensured that the Vics would take the aggregate point. Special mention must go to Club President Sid Dutton, well into his nineties, who came off extremely annoyed he could do no more than 14-21. Sid’s amazing competitive hunger is something to behold. A good day for the Vics despite the 2 shot loss.

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16/07/2005 by admin.

The Vics Birkenhead League side returned to winning form last night with a 36 shot victory over Oxton Conservative Club. After struggling in their recent away fixture to Heswall R.B.L. and the double header with the mighty Higher Tranmere, the Vics had 8 winners at home on a green of many colours with Trevor Rodgers and Robby Franklin powering to 21-08 wins to set the Vics up nicely for a much needed win. Trevor, banishing all thoughts of last weeks shameful performance at Tranmere from his mind, produced his best form and Robby, showing no ill effects from Wednesday afternoons drubbing, displayed all the guile and touch he is well known for (an older version of Danny Harrison maybe?). Crusher recovered from a shaky start to cruise in 21-12 and Colin Saville showed glimpses of his devastating Wallasey League form when coming through 21-13. Shergar, after being slow out of the starting stalls and falling 07-12 down, galloped to an eventual 21-14 win. Mally Johnson won again. this time 21-16 to be almost unbeatable at the moment and with Dick Peake and Bob Jones posting 21-18 wins the Vics had done enough to triumph by 36 shots. Billy Atkinson was so confused by suffering another rare defeat, he managed to go home without his woods!! Good job Peter Dodd doesn’t leave his woods behind after a defeat, he might be bankrupt by now.!!

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16/07/2005 by admin.

With hopes high of a win and the extra point, the Vics afternoon “B” managed only the win at the end of the day against R.N.A. on Wednesday afternoon. The Vics, fielding a side without some of their regular players, managed a 23 shot victory but lost the aggregate by 9 shots. Club Chairman, Dave Bosworth impressed with a good 21-11 win that was closely followed by C.K.Pau winning 21-12. Eddie Dodd, stepping up this week, produced a fine 21-16 winning performance followed by a pair of 21-17 winners in Lawrie Blackburn and Paul Lomax. The Ibbotson brothers, Brian and Don, were both involved in very tight matches before triumphing 21-19 and the aggregate point was within reach for the Vics but unfortunately 3 losing cards were just too many to overcome. Skipper Don Ibbotson should however not be too disappointed as his side has performed well against the top two sides in recent weeks which augurs well for the back half of the season.

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16/07/2005 by admin.

The afternoon “A” team lost to Upton Victory Hall on Wednesday in a disappointing display that seriously damages their title hopes. On a patchy Upton green which was very fast in places, the Vics only managed 2 winning cards out of the 10 and there was even the shock sight of skipper Billy Atkinson losing his 1st League game this season. Mally Johnson once again impressed, when continuing his winning run for Vics sides, with an emphatic 21-06 win. Eddie Clayburn displayed his full range of skills when easily winning 21-09 but this was it for the Vics and displays like this are not good enough when they are pushing for the title. Elwyn Williams 16-21 and Peter Walker 18-21 fought hard in their games and with the shock of seeing Billy Atkinson losing, even though he pushed his opponent to 19-21, this was an afternoon to forget for the Vics. The only consolation was the 36 shot defeat saw the Vics claim the aggregate point.

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16/07/2005 by admin.

The Vics Wallasey League side produced another convincing performance to remain unbeaten in the League this season, when winning away at Quarry Vikings on Thursday night. Skipper Mally Johnson, in the enviable position of having plenty of players to choose from for this fixture, with the return of the previous night’s unavailable players, saw his side stride to a 72 shot win. With 11 winners out of 12 on the small Quarry green, the Vics were never in any danger of a surprise result being recorded. Crusher Sherbrooke, on one of his favourite greens, started the Vics wagon rolling with a 21-07 win followed closely by Anthony Thompson producing a 21-08 victory to leave everyone wondering how he managed to lose to Mally Johnson last week. Matty Gilmore, proving that he is hungry for the Vics to win this title again, had an easy 21-10 win and Eddie Clayburn continued to shine for the Vics with a 21-12 success. Robby Hall and Billy Atkinson posted a couple of 21-14 wins and Dave Gilmore and Ian Sherbrooke came through their games 21-15. Neil Sherbrooke and Robby Franklin were made to struggle a bit before both came out 21-16 winners. Skipper Mally Johnson continued his fine recent run of success with another win, this time 21-19 although he did throw away an 18-05 lead at one stage. Bernie Owen was the unfortunate loser for the Vics this time when he came up against another “Mustard ” bowler for the umpteenth time in his career. It is to be hoped Bernie never plays any one named Coleman as he will beaten before the game starts. Next up for the Vics a tough encounter in the Presidents Cup against Harrison Park when the handicappers will no doubt be giving them another another huge deficit to pull back.

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