report-4-18

Report 4/18 January 2019

While there were four games in Divisions B & C, the only game in Division A saw Preston First team gain their first win of the season in beating their own Seconds by 4 - 1. The Seconds only victory came on board 4 when Carl Tillotson's early advantage gaining two minor pieces for a rook was surrendered when he blundered a piece back to Cliff Rutlidge who then went on to mate Carl. But wins for Brett Lund, Malcolm Peacock, Graham Ashcroft and Alan Pidcock against, Peter Jowett, Peter Thompson, Conor Reaney and Phil Taylor respectively enabled the Firsts to record their first victory in a while against their own seconds. Poulton Firsts retain leadership of the division on 5 points with Preston seconds still ahead of their First on 3 points to 2 with Lytham firsts, having played a game less than other teams at the foot of the table with 2 points.

In Division B, Morecambe, despite surprisingly losing 1.5 - 2.5 against Lytham Seconds, recovered well to win by the same score-line at Bispham and head a very tight table by 1 point. Junior Niamh Bridgeman drew with David Aspinall and Steve Robinson beat Shaun Clarkson, but Lytham’s Phil Raynor beat Alan Giles and his team-mate Bob Tinton beat Michael Farthing to win the match. In their victorious match at Bispham, Morecambe's Alan Giles and Gary Bennett both beat home players Jakub Sosinski and Ron Broxson, and Andy Wickens secured a draw against Keith Wilcox to ensure a match win. Blaine McGrady's win over Morecambe's Sean Parker was therefore not enough to deny the visitors victory. Bispham did pick up a point with a 2 - 2 draw at Preston thirds as wins for Blaine McGrady v Paul O'Mara and Ron Broxson v Chris Soames were equalled by defeats for Keith Wilcox against Harry Patsos and Peter Wallace against Josh Mchaffie. 2 - 2 a fair result. Preston thirds also achieved a fine 2 - 2 draw at Lytham Seconds where Geoff Pennington and Andrew De Santos both drew against Phil Raynor and Graham Taylor, William Moffatt lost to David Aspinall but Joss Daune overcame Lynne Morrison to square the match. As all teams have played 5 games and only two points separate the four teams, any one could yet topple Morecambe.

The Division C table is more loose as Lytham Thirds lost twice in the month while Poulton Seconds eased three points clear. Lytham started the month with a victory at newcomers Leyland by 1.5 - 2.5 as wins for Pat Coleman and Darren Pickering over David Clayton and junior Bharath Cheralathan, followed by a draw on board three between Geoff Key and John Regan secured a match victory. Leyland's Steve Hughes board 1 defeat of Bob Tinton was only a consolation. Lytham then surprisingly crashed to a 1.5 - 2.5 defeat inflicted by their own Fourth team. There were fine wins for Colin Wilks and Keith Sansom over Pat Coleman and John Regan while Denis Davies hung on grimly to draw with Bob Tinton. Shaun Clarkson was the only third team victor against John Cox. Lytham Third's misery was then further compounded when losing 1 - 3 to their top of the table rivals Poulton Seconds. Poulton's Ken Gorman and Dave Hartley earned creditable victories over Pat Coleman and Dennis Davies and Paul Worsley's draw against Bob Tinton combined with Les Hughes' fine draw with Colin Wilks snared the 1 - 3 match win. Having played one game more than Poulton, Lytham thirds are now three points adrift of the top of the table. The final game in this division saw Poulton Thirds tie 2 - 2 against Leyland. Leyland victories by Robert Hart and Ken Lawson over Dave Hartley and Les Hughes were countered by home victories by Paul Fearnhead over Geoff Key and Phillip Hove against junior Bharath Cheralathan.

John Regan