Premier blues clinch inter-league title
Not even bad weather to end the day could give Salop Leisure Premier League chiefs the blues as they successfully defended their Shropshire senior inter-league crown.
As hosts they had two teams involved in Saturday’s eight-a-side championship, and it was the Premier ‘Blue’ team that won the day – with one almighty scare along the way.
They beat the Flowfit Ludlow League by 34 shots in the final on the top green at St Georges, repeating the victory over the same opponents that had brought the Premier their first triumph in the competition 12 months ago.
But it had taken a battling show from skipper Jamie King to get them over the line in their semi-final against SPS Whitchurch by just two chalks and with only three winners, David Lloyd’s 21-9 card proving vital.
Ludlow beat Terry Jones Solicitors Wem by 10 in the other semi, Russell Davies winning 21-8, but only Wayne Rogers and Kiah Roberts managed to stem the Premier tide in the final as Rob Roden won the match award with a 21-12 win from 11-8 down.
The round robin stages earlier in the day, on the two greens at Bowring and bottom green at nearby Sir John Bayley, produced some tight games between the 12 teams taking part, Group B seeing a draw and a single-shot victory.
Premier Blue stormed through Group A on Bowring’s older green with three straight wins while Ludlow topped Group B with a one-shot win over Whitchurch before being held to a draw by Mark Drayton.
Wem won Group C at the Bayley C, beating the Premier Yellow team on the way, while Whitchurch took the best runners-up ticket to the knockout stages on aggregate.
Premier League chief Rob Burroughs, one of the organising team, said: “It was a great day – apart from the weather at the end.
“A big thank you goes to the three clubs who held the competition, to Mike Potter for refereeing the semi-final and final and to St Georges for doing the buffet. Also thanks to Mike Beckett for doing the online system and entering the results throughout the day.”
