Cramlington Ravens just scraped through into the third round of the  Northumbia League Handicap Cup after holding a 4 - 1 lead over Cramlington Jaguars. Chris O'Connor got them off to a good start with victory over Mick Sursham but Ken Brown levelled for the Jaguars by defeating Sam Nair. The next three sets all went the way of the Ravens with Adrian Barnes beating Aubrey Drapkin, Nair overcoming Sursham and O'Connor getting his second with a win against Drapkin. But Brown  gave the Jaguars hope by defeating Barnes and Drapkin put them right back in it with victory over Nair. Sursham then beat Barnes 21 - 17 in the third end while O'Connor was involved in a marathon with Brown who took the first game 29 - 27 but O'Connor took charge of the second end leaving all to play for in the third. This was closely fought  before Brown appeared to be on the verge of completing a great fight back by the Jaguars as he took a 20 - 17 lead but O'Connor was not finished and came back to win 27-25 to make the final score 5 - 4 to the Ravens.

Another closely fought match saw Cramlington Spartans just get home against Newcastle Communities B by the same score with Mike Dunn getting the final game by defeating Chen Ji 21-17 in the third end to win his second of the night while Adam Shafiq was unbeaten.

Yi Chau got two for the Communities with Chen and John Gallagher managing one each.

Saint Chads found themselves 3 -2 down against Cramlington Swifts thanks to two sets from Diane Cartmell and one from Peter Wilkinson but they won the next three to go through to the next round. Jimmy Scope won all three of his matches with Barry Cuthbertson getting two.

Other results were as follows - Matfen C 5 Trojans 3,  Dragons 3 Cobras 5,  NESLC Codgers 2 Riding Mill A 5 ,Knights 1 Corinthians 8,  Ouston D 2 Old England FATTS 7,  North Fire A 5 Stingers 0,  Newton C 0 Ouston A 5

 

Aubrey Drapkin