All's well that ends well as Shakespeare double up

The Stag faced LSC at the Tav and the league runners-up made a superb start, with Ray Talbot beating George Allen to make it 1-0.

Mick Manning cleared to level against Greg Heathcote and LSC should have been 2-1 up when Andy Lewis potted the black against Neil Dale, only to see the white drop in the pocket.

Kyle Smith won a crucial fourth rack against Ant Heathcote to give the Market Drayton side a 3-1 lead heading into the doubles where Allen and Dale won to seal the Neil Clark Memorial Trophy for a second successive year.

Shakespeare A then came out on top of a thrilling Neil Clark Consolation Shield final against Pheasant B.

Scott Smith got the better of Russ Woodhouse in a tense opener to put the Pheasant into the lead. Neil Perkins looked as though he had levelled when he potted a tight black into the corner against Mike Jones, but the white dropped into the middle pocket.

Luke Jones played well in the third rack to beat Dean Smith to put the Pheasant within one frame of victory.

But Adam Bailey fended off Craig Hutchinson to give the Shakespeare a lifeline at 3-1 with Gary Lewis and Woodhouse beating Mike and Luke Jones in the first doubles to make it 3-2.

Bailey and Tom Vernon held their nerve in the sixth frame level the match and force a tie-break final frame.

Both captains opted for Bailey and Smith to play and it was Bailey who finally triumphed for Shakespeare.

Young Alex Davidson was awarded the Desert England Trophy for the 'most improved' player of the season.

Dean Smith donated a trophy for the winner of the league statistics.

The Stag's George Allen claimed this after winning 32 of his 34 singles matches. Next season a permanent Gary Bolton Memorial Shield will be introduced for this in memory of a popular league player who lost his brave battle against cancer earlier this year.

Awards were presented by Barry Clark, the father of former league player Neil Clark, who passed away in October 2006.