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Week 16 round-up: Harrogate's joy of six
18 Mar 2018

The jockeying for position continued in Division 1 of the Kall Kwik Harrogate League but it is the eponymous Harrogate 1 who lead by six points with the finish line in sight.

Harrogate beat lowly Chapel Allerton 3 but No.1 Simon Myring’s straight-game defeat to Cameron Ward made the victory less emphatic than they might have preferred. Luckily Mark James and Olly Hotchkiss had already got the job done.

Second-placed Chapel Allerton 1 have done a Devon Loch, stumbling to a third straight defeat when victory had at one stage been in their grasp. Their latest setback was a 11-5 home disaster against fifth-placed Collingham 1. Stephen Kettlewell and Sam Wileman were the heroes for the villagers, the latter winning a classic 11/6 in the fifth.

The top two have just one game left, but the chasing pack all have two. Third-placed Harlow have bottom side Aireborough next week and an expected full 12 points there will give them a mere mathematical title sniff.

They took care of business against Adel 1 this week with Richard Leonard winning in three, Steve Smith in four and John Simpson in five, pipping Kieran Wardman 11/9 in the decider.

Chapel Allerton 2, in fourth, can no longer claim the title despite taking out their whip and giving relegated Aireborough 1 yet another stinging lashing. John Riley, Ian Hogg and Richard Hinds all won with barely the need for a shower afterwards.

Into Division 2 and Collingham 2 have looked the most likely to take home the bullion for a few months now. Their fifth win in six games since Christmas came at Chapel Allerton 4 although it was by no means straightforward.

Nick Williams, unbeaten all season at No.3, was taken to five by gutsy Mark Taylor and when Julian Gorton took out Dan Adams at second string, the villagers were wobbling. James Rollinson settled the jitters though in three tough games against Bobby Pearson.

Down the corridor on Court 6, Chapel Allerton 5 were embroiled in a huge tussle with Harrogate 2. The visitors’ Steve Whiteley beat an out-of-sorts Mike Robinson but Dave Stannard levelled matters with a straight-games win. It all came down to Tim Manuel against light-footed youngster Henry Worrall. A game and 7-3 down, all looked lost for Manuel, but he dug deep and produced arguably the finest performance of an outstanding season to somehow turn it around.

Despite the 5ths’ win they were nudged out of the top two by Dunnington who walloped bottom side Collingham 3 by 12-2 with Jermaine Manners, Joe Cybaniak and George Pethullus in pragmatic mood.

At the bottom, Skipton’s relegation was confirmed – along with Chapel Allerton 6’s safety – as they succumbed to a 14th defeat of the season. James Steingold’s crew also lost, 10-4 at Adel 2, but live to fight another day in the second tier.

Into Division 3 we go and Adel 3 and Ilkley 1 are deadlocked on 145 points at the summit with two games remaining. They played each other this week and the mob from the Moor won a very close contest 9-5 courtesy of wins from Ben Bearpark and Matthew MacGregor, overturning John Bickley’s early win at No.3 for the hosts.

Those two sides have the top two positions secured, meaning Otley 3’s 9-5 win over Harlow 2 was ultimately in vain, and Chapel Allerton 7 made absolutely sure they counted themselves out of the promotion reckoning by losing at bottom side Ilkley 2.

Harlow 2 and Harrogate 3 are the other main relegation candidates – both losing again this week – but anyone up to Adel 4 in fifth could still plummet.

We’re into the final week of the season in the slimline Division 4 and the title belongs to Collingham 5, who celebrated with wins for epically-named duo Maximus Cooke and Michael Odling-Smee at second-from-bottom Harrogate 4.

This week saw the two sides hussling for second place – Ilkley 3 and Adel 5 – lock horns. It was Adel who took it 11-5 in an extremely tight affair, James Sellers’ 3/2 success against Fred Harrison at No.1 sealing it to establish a slender one-point lead.

David Lloyd are guaranteed to finish bottom of the pile, which may explain their laissez-faire attitude to entering this week’s result against Aireborough 2 – still no there some five days after the fixture allegedly took place.