Last week saw the New Milton F team knocked out of the annual Times & Directory Handicap Cup competition in the semi-finals, but two of the club’s teams made it through to the semi-finals of the Plate competition.

In the Cup proper, the Div 3 F team (Ian Linney, Steve Cheesman & Sylvia Smith) lost their semi-final against the Premier’s Ringwood A despite a hat-trick from Cheesman. It went right down to the wire at 4-4 with Linney needing to beat Ringwood’s Oliver Crossley in the ninth and final match but he narrowly lost 15-21, 21-14, 19-21.

In the Plate quarter-finals, the Premier’s B team (Brian Bickell, Shaun Newcomb & John Millward) gained some light relief from their parlous league position by beating Div 4’s Bmth Sports M 5-4 to book their place in the semi-finals. England veteran Bickell is still recovering from a shoulder injury but played cannily to win his first hat-trick since his return. It was poised at 4-4 when wheelchair player Newcomb beat Bourne’s Maggie White to follow suit with his team-mates.

The other team to progress through to the Plate semi-finals was the Div 3 G team (Graham Underwood, Mike Toole & Bev Scott-Johns) who did so at the expense of their club mates in the D team (Terry Jenvey, Malcolm Floyd & Chris Pusey) who usually play a division higher. It was all over at 5-0 and then club treasurer Floyd narrowly beat club secretary Scott-Johns in the mandatory sixth match to make it a tad more respectable at 5-1.  The triumphant G team are pictured below: l-r Mike Toole, Graham Underwood (Captain) & Bev Scott-Johns.

The E team (Peter Daish, Simon Daish & Simon Golding), who normally ply their trade in Div 2 faced a very strong Div 1 side Bmth Sports D which included ex Milton player Alan Gordon. Milton went ahead 3-2 but Gordon beat Golding having already seen off the other Simon to level things off at 3-3. Unfortunately the two Simons lost their final matches to exit the Plate at 3-5.

The L team featuring Stuart Burton (captain), James Harper and Maggie Brown had to travel to Colehill to take on Shamrock A who normally play a division higher than them in Div 4. In another very tight match and despite a hat-trick from captain fantastic Burton, Milton just lost 4-5 to be denied progress to the Plate semis.

The New Milton club are assured of at least one of their teams making it through to the Plate Final as the B team has been drawn against the G team in the semi-finals.

The break in the league programme enabled the two postponed derbies to take place. The A team repeated their first round 9-1 trouncing of their B team who are firmly stuck on the bottom of the Premier. In Div 3, the second placed G team assumed bragging rights over their F team as they converted a first round 5-5 draw into an 8-2 drubbing. Full results details of all matches are below.

TIMES & DIRECTORY CUP – SEMI-FINALS

New Milton F (Div 3) 4 Ringwood A (Prem) 5

(Ian Linney 0, Steve Cheesman 3, Sylvia Smith 1)

TIMES & DIRECTORY PLATE – QUARTER-FINALS

Bmth Sports M (Div 4) 4 New Milton B (Prem) 5

(Brian Bickell 3, Shaun Newcomb 1, John Millward 1)

New Milton G (Div 3) 5 New Milton D (Div 2) 1

(G Team:Graham Underwood 2, Mike Toole 2, Bev Scott-Johns 1)

(D Team: Chris Pusey 0, Terry Jenvey 0, Malcolm Floyd 1)

New Milton E (Div 2) 3 Bmth Sports D (Div 1) 5

(Peter Daish 2, Simon Daish 0, Simon Golding 1)

Shamrock A (Div 4) 5 New Milton L (Div 5) 4

(James Harper 1, Maggie Brown 0, Stuart Burton 3)

LEAGUE MATCHES (REARRANGED)

PREMIER

New Milton B 1 New Milton A 9

(B Team: John Millward 0, Shaun Newcomb 0, Brian Bickell 0)

(A Team: Steve Hemmings 3, Brian Vibert 3, Umit Kaya 3)

DIVISION 3

New Milton F 2 New Milton G 8

(F Team: Ian Linney 0, Steve Cheesman 2, Mike Roberts 0)

(G Team: Mike Toole 3, Ben Greene 2, Graham Underwood 2)

DIVISION 5

Winton YMCA Elec-Trick 9 New Milton K 1

(Mike Gent 1, Malcolm Douglas 0, Dave Burns 0)