UK Student Archery Association

League Catch Up pt 1/4 NEUAL [09/Mar/09]

The UKSAA inbox has been groaning under sheer weight of results. There will be a series of three catch up articles (NEUAL, BUTTS and Others) interspersed with the BUTC and BUCS Championship reviews over the next week or so.

Adding in the results of six league matches and the Indoor Champs, Lancaster now look favourites to win NEUAL 08/09 to go with their BUTC bronzes. Liverpool are currently top of the table but need the Red Rose side to slip up in order to snatch the title - second place though is assured. In NEUAL's novice league Sheffield are dominant with five wins out of five and looking for a clean sweep.

The first result to deal with was a partial postal match from before Christmas, where Rory Campbell's 577 propelled Sheffield to a 33 point win over Durham, 2150-2113, with Leeds in third just short of 2100. The novice match finished Sheffield then Leeds then Durham, with the margins between the teams over 300 in each case.

The third batch of NEUAL fixtures was in late January. The pick of these saw Liverpool try to win their third consecutive league match. Whilst a score of 2102 was just enough to fend off Sheffield's 2088, hosts Lancaster shot 2131, with a 557 from Michael Bass to claim maximum points. Elsewhere Keele also broke 2100 to beat Leeds by 60, Huddersfield recording a DNS, whilst York scored 2020 to beat Bradford by 40, Durham fielding an incomplete team. Sheffield, Keele and Bradford all won their novice matches well.

Moving into February there was another close match, this time between Liverpool, Leeds and York. Leeds notched up a 2103, including 567 from Pete Bowes and 566 from Lewis Henderson. Liverpool's greater strength in depth carried them to 2118 whilst York's 2076 was only enough for third. Liverpool actually had the lowest top score of the three teams in the match, but more importantly had maximum points in the bag. Bradford posted their highest score of the campaign with 2081 but fell just short at home to Sheffield who were just over 2100. Huddersfield were third in the match, but pleasingly fielded a full team (& novices) for the first time. Liverpool narrowly pipped Leeds at novice level 1350-1334 with York a little way behind. Sheffield broke 1500 to outgun Bradford's 1372, Huddersfield distantly third but gaining their first ever novice league points.

The NEUAL Indoor Champs took place in Leeds on Sat 21st Feb. Victory for Liverpool would put them on an almost unassailable 49 out of 50, but Lancaster were sitting on 20 out of 20 and having already beaten Liverpool, a Red Rose victory would put them in a very powerful position. With Keele and Sheffield still very much in the mix too, the Indoor Champs could prove crucial, bearing in mind points for the indoors are allocated 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2, so a bad performance, or even a handful of points here or there could see a team lose a lot of ground.

In the end Lancaster put in a commanding performance, narrowly missing out on 2200 and gents recurve 1-2-4, with 570 from John Lane, 563 from Michael Bass and the 559 from Matt McCormack missing out on third by a single gold to Robert Smith (Liverpool). Liverpool claimed second overall on 2146, over 50 behind Lancaster, but only 8 ahead of Sheffield. Keele and York finished seven points apart in fourth and fifth, the pair sitting either side of 2100. York's Gitta Bertram easily won ladies recurve with 554. In the novice team event, Sheffield ran riot, breaking 1500 easily with 1527 and winning by just over 100 points. Keele were second and Liverpool picked up third on 1401.

The results left Liverpool on 48 points and having completed their fixtures. Sheffield are clear in second but on 36 with a game in hand - too far back to overhaul Liverpool. Lancaster however have two games in hand so if they can take 19 points (a win and a second place) they will win the title. In the novice league things look cut and dried. Liverpool are top on 55, but after five wins out of five Sheffield's novices need only attend their final league match to be sure of winning the title. Keele look the best bet for second.