The Keighley & District League’s Naylor Cup was won by the Haworth Hawks Junior team of Nathan Ward, Spencer Hurd and Grace Fellingham-Webb.  They played fellow club team the Haworth Hen Harriers, whose players were Doreen Yorke, Gerald Thwaites and Jenny Denby. The two teams had been battling for position in Division 4 with the Hen Harriers finishing fifth and the Juniors sixth. This meant neither team were given any handicap advantage for this cup final. The lead swapped to and fro over individual games until the last few high scoring wins clinched it for the Juniors with a final score of 349-294. Doreen Yorke commented “The Juniors have really improved over this season, having won the Boothman Plate too. The real handicap was our combined age of 188 compared to that of the youngsters combined age of 38”.

And for the first time, not just one, but four Haworth Hawks players qualified for the U11-U14 National Championships which were held in Doncaster this weekend. Grace Fellingham-Webb (12),  Aliza Khaliq (11) and Josh Poulsen (11) didn’t make it through the group stage, but young Morgan Reed (11) managed to progress from his group as runner-up. He then had an incredibly close match against Liam Smith from Kent. Morgan was two games up, but Liam managed to battle back to win the match 3-2. Head Coach Andy Bray said “There were difficult matches but all the players did themselves proud. This is the best any Haworth Hawks player has ever done and is evidence how the club is moving forward. “

Judith Silberberg  (2/6/2014)