KGJ Insurance Shropshire Cup Semi Final Review

Hadley USC and Bridgewater shocked their opponents in the Semi Finals of the KGJ Insurance Shropshire Cup. Hadley USC defeated the holders Castlefields by just 3 chalks at Childs Ercall. Captain Nick Wyer said “it was a very tough game which swayed both ways during the night. We lost Ash Gregory hours before game for personal reasons which didn’t help.us but so glad we got over the line. It was a few very good performance from us and we also had 2-3 who battled well from losing positions to get over the line. We now look forward to the cup final on August 3rd.” Best winner for them was Nick Mullinder and Dave Price 12, with Russell Pugh best for the Fields 4.

It was even closer at Nantwich Park Road as Bridgewater and Woore drew on aggregate and winners, it was Chris Nicholson’s 9 win for Bridgewater that was the best winner of the match that got them through. Skipper Matt Blackhurst said “we’re obviously really pleased with that performance. We were short handed and knew we needed to get some momentum, so winning 3/4 in the front and with Chris beating Derek 9 got us the lead we wanted and ultimately was the card that won us the game. After the middle lads increased the advantage to 15 after 8 cards, it was all going smoothly with Chris Pearce 13-5 up and Rich Proudlove 9-7. Then things started to unravel. Credit to Dan Hand & Cedric (best winner 10) who were excellent to lead a spirited fightback, and without Chris playing some brilliant bowls at the end they might well have pinched it. It was a good quality game all round, I think we deserved it on the night. After the draw I always felt we might just have enough but never expected it to be a tense finish like that. We’re really look forward to the Final.”