Deighton F, a junior team, beat their senior club-mates Deighton C to win the Huddersfield Concorde Handicap Cup final.
Deighton C had an uphill battle before they started, giving the ever-improving juniors a 99-point start. The format was four games up to 11.
Game 1 saw Jonathon Heslop extend the juniors’ lead against Krzystof Sobkiewicz, with a scoreline of 7-11, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11 (32-42).
In Game 2, that scoreline was reversed as John Cooke pulled back the deficit against Cameron Sandhu 11-8, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9 (44-32).
Deighton C then reduced the juniors’ lead to 88 points in Game 3 as the club’s lead coach Paul Simpson came from behind to defeat Marcus Matthews 8-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 (41-30).
The C team continued to whittle away the lead as Cooke beat Heslop 11-1, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3 (38-24) to reduce the lead by a further 14 points.
When Sobkiewciz then beat Matthews 11-10, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 (44-30), Deighton C had now reduced the lead to just 60 points with four games remaining.
In Game 6, Simpson took on Sandhu knowing he needed to gain at least 15 points and started well, taking the first 11-7 only for Sandhu to take the next 7-11. Simpson hit back to take the next two 11-9, 11-7 for a 40-34 win, but with just three games to go and still requiring 54 points the task was getting harder.
Cooke took the first two against Matthews 11-3, 11-8, only for Matthews to make a great fightback to take the next two 10-11, 7-11. The scoreline was 38-35 in favour of Cooke but it just about took Deighton F over the line.
In Game 8, Heslop gained the upper hand early on against Simpson to confirm the cup was going to Deighton F as he won 7-11, 9-11, 11-10, 9-11 (36-43).
The final game saw Sobkiewicz beat Sandhu 11-5, 11-10, 11-9, 11-9 (44-33), leaving the final score at Deighton F 301 + 180 handicap = 481 Deighton C 357 +81 handicap = 438.
It was also a double triumph for Deighton F, who had beaten David Brown B 8-2 in the league the night before to seal the Division Three title, going undefeated all season with 15 victories and five draws.
Heslop won the Merit Award, having played won 56 of his 60 matches, ahead of Rawan Hamza from Deighton E, who won 55 from 60.
Paul Simpson (Deighton TTC)
May 29, 2015