A week after their triumph at Seascale, Cockermouth found themselves on the road again, only this time Maximum Statterus was available.
They were up against a formidable team in Abbeytown with the usuals of Rob Jefferson/Lorraine Graham, and Neal Blair/Jos Cole proving too strong for the visitors.
They showed why they are former Mixed 1 Champions of multiple continuous years.
First game was Jefferson/Graham against Henry Taylor/Stacey Wilkinson, with the home side coming out 21-13, 21-10 winners.
The second game was Blair/Cole up against Max Statter/Kirsty Park and the first game was a close encounter with the home side edging it 21-18.
They proved too strong in the 2nd end winning 21-10.
Abbeytown had already secured victory with another two wins, to make the score 4-0 with the change over games to play.
Jefferson/Cole took on Statter/Wilkinson, winning 21-16, 21-12, then Blair/Graham rolling back the years once more, won 21-13, 21-15 against Taylor/Park, which meant that Abbeytown ran out winners, 6-0.
It was nice to see some good results for Kirsty Park, who only started playing last season, and is certainly coming on playing alongside the experienced players at Cockermouth.
Solway 2 are the only 2nd team in the Men’s League, so are always going to find it tough going against the other club’s 1st teams.
But they can still put up a good battle and hold their own.
The first game against Marchon saw the home duo of Andrew Tang/Malcolm Crow up against Graham Robinson/Gary Park.
The first end saw Marchon come out easy winners 21-8 but something must have gone wrong or the experienced home pair changed their tactics, as the 2nd end was much different, with the away side winning 22-20. The home pair were unlucky not to push that into a third end.
Next up were Peter Rand/Steven Kelley against Marchon’s John Le Jeune/Matt O’Sullivan, with the home side easily winning the first 21-10.
However the second end was won by Solway 2, edging Marchon out 22-20 to take it to a decider.
However, Marchon proved too strong in that winning 21-12.
The next set of games saw Robinson/Park narrowly beat Rand/Kelley, 21-17, 21-19, and in the other game, Tang/Crow came out winners against Le Jeune/O’Sullivan, 21-14, 21-18.
It was now 3-1 to the away team, sop that Solway 2 could snatch a draw by winning the two change-over games.
It wasn’t to be, however, as Marchon won both to take the match 5-1.
In the Doubles League Marchon 1’s had their second game and were looking to continue where they left off against their third team with another win over visitors Seascale.
The first match saw Matthew Branthwaite/Isaac Madrick up against the two stalwarts of Seascale Badminton Club, John Alderson/Paul Hutchinson.
It was a good effort from the more experienced players from Seascale, however, it was the home team who took the first game, 21-16, 21-15.
The second game wasn’t as easy as the home pair Connor Wright/Callum MacLeod took on captain Joe Cole playing with Seascale debutant Omal Jayawardena.
The home pair just edged the first game 25-23, but they lost the second end 15-21.
Marchon went 2-0 up in the match when they took the deciding third end 21-16.
Branthwaite/Wright narrowly lost out to Hutchinson/Jayawardena, 17-21, 15-21 which gave Seascale their first win of the match.
In the other game Madrick/MacLeod lost out in the first end to Alderson/Cole, 9-21 but stormed back.
To win the remaining two ends, 21-18, 21-13, to give Marchon 1 a 3-1 lead.
The final set of games were split, 1-1, with Alderson/Jayawardena beating Madrick/Wright, 21-16, 21-17, but the other game saw Branthwaite/MacLeod coming out on top, 21-16, 21-16 against Hutchinson/Cole for a 4-2 Marchon victory.
