Superleague 2017

02/08/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Coach & Horses 3-3 (87-71)

L.Brock & C.Austin lost to R.Perrie & D.Patel 14-15

N.Shaw & K.Hird lost to G.Chapman & T.Thurnham 14-15

L.Brock & K.Hird lost to G.Chapman & D.Patel 14-15

N.Shaw & C.Austin beat R.Perrie & T.Thurnham 15-3

L.Brock & N.Shaw beat R.Perrie & G.Chapman 15-12

C.Austin & K.Hird beat D.Patel & T.Thurnham 15-11

The Aston House Thoroughbreds finished off a magnificent Superleague campaign with a heart-stopping come from behind against the odds victory in the final last night against the Coach & Horses. With the tournament already delayed by the Westway closure earlier in the summer due to the Grenfell Tower disaster, the final was further postponed by two weeks as C&H were unable to raise a side for the scheduled date and AHT manager Spencer Chapman generously agreed to wait and play the final in August rather than claim a walkover. The first blow of the night was struck by the AHT team, looking resplendent in their Felix Project kit (thanks to Michael Millership and JBS). On court, however, the team started slowly with some early nerves leading to mistakes and significant leads for the C&H pairs in both courts. Gradually, though, the Thoroughbreds began to find their feet and despite neither pair being ahead at any stage, both managed to claw their way back to 14-14 only for the last point to go the way of the Westway team in both courts with Laurie & Chris frustratingly losing to a roll off the edge of the top step. Not many teams win Superleague matches from 2-0 down, but the improved form in the second half of the first round of matches gave some hope; there was a clear shift in momentum at the start of the second round of games, as the C&H players' level dipped in both courts. Darshan Patel and Guy Chapman quickly found themselves 6-0 down against Laurie and Karen, while Nick and Chris found the normally immaculate Ryan Perrie throwing in an absolute shocker of a game. Nick & Chris were able to force home the advantage, demolishing Ryan and Tim Thurnham 15-3, but Laurie & Karen couldn't do the same in their court as Guy & Darshan steadied the ship and forged ahead, aided by a nasty-looking thumb injury to Laurie. In a game of remarkable twists and turns, the C&H pair found themselves 14-9 up before Laurie hit a purple patch of returning and with Karen supporting well they levelled at 14-14 before once again losing the final point to find themselves 3-1 down, with all 3 defeats by the same 15-14 margin. The plus side of the narrow defeats, along with the 15-3 win, was that the equation was simple going into the final round - two wins for the Thoroughbreds and the trophy would be theirs on overall points won. The last two matches were tense from start to finish and both followed similar patterns - the AHT pairs got into an early lead in both and managed to stay ahead, withstanding immense C&H pressure. Both AHT pairs found points increasingly difficult to come by as the finishing line approached, but with the C&H pairs closing in fast, the Thoroughbreds converted game ball in both courts almost simultaneously, sparking scenes of wild celebration from the victors and allowing non-playing captain Spencer Chapman to go the full John Terry, donning his team kit to collect the trophy along with the four triumphant players. After several near misses, this was the first Aston House win in the Superleague since the inaugural season back in 2010 and a great achievement from the squad of six who took them to victory - Laurie Brock, Nick Shaw, Chris Austin, Spencer Chapman, Karen Hird and Robert Wilson. Karen became the first woman to play in a Superleague final-winning team and Laurie overtook Ant Theodossi during the course of the evening to claim the Golden Gloves prize for most shots in the hole.

12/07/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Lethal Bizzle 4-2

L.Brock & C.Austin beat J.Ho & T.Lethbridge 15-9

N.Shaw & R.Wilson beat M.Kovar & D.Davis 15-9

L.Brock & R.Wilson beat M.Kovar & T.Lethbridge 15-7

N.Shaw & C.Austin lost to J.Ho & D.Davis 9-15

L.Brock & N.Shaw beat J.Ho & M.Kovar 15-13

C.Austin & R.Wilson lost to T.Lethbridge & D.Davis 6-15

The Aston House Thoroughbreds scored a stunning victory in the semi-finals of the Superleague last night, the AHT "awesome foursome" beating 2015 champions Lethal Bizzle 4-2 in a dramatic upset, with Laurie Brock leading the way with a full house of victories. Here's the match report in Laurie's own words:

"The Thoroughbreds got off to a superb start in the first rotation, with Chris and I defeating Jonny Ho and Tom Lethbridge and Rob and Nick beating Matt Kovar and Dexter Davis, both by 15-9 scorelines. In the second rotation, Nick and Chris struggled against Dexter and an inspired Jonny, despite going 5-0 up, and were ultimately overcome 7-15. Rob and I also began slowly against Matt and Tom but a purple patch in the middle part of the set proved crucial, as we pulled away to lead 11-5, and held on to win 15-9.

This left us with a 3-1 lead and a 14 point cushion going into the final rotation. Simple, you might have thought. But of course Aston House never like to do things the easy way. Lethal Bizzle, knowing they had nothing to lose, came out flying, as Chris and Rob succumbed 6-15 to Tom and Dexter, and Nick and I got off to an awful start in the top match, trailing 4-11 with Jonny again on fire. At this stage, a choke looked possible.

However, Nick, perhaps inspired by his brilliant support, was having none of it, putting in a bravura performance in the second half of the match as we fought our way back, first to draw level at 13-13 and then, aided by a couple of slices of fortune when cutting, clinching victory (and our place in the final) 15-13. We will play Coach and Horses, after they won a dramatic semi-final against the Jesters by a single point - the match was tied at 3-3 but they secured the crucial final point just seconds before the lights went out.

A fantastic team performance!"

04/07/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat Lancing Lionhearts 5-1

L.Brock & S.Chapman beat W.Betts & M.Scurr 15-2

C.Austin & K.Hird beat J.Prior & A.Abrahams 15-6

L.Brock & K.Hird beat J.Prior & M.Scurr 15-13

C.Austin & S.Chapman beat W.Betts & A.Abrahams 15-4

L.Brock & C.Austin beat W.Betts & J.Prior 15-6

S.Chapman & K.Hird lost to M.Scurr & A.Abrahams 7-15

The delayed quarter-final in this year's Superleague finally took place at Westway last night and saw the Thoroughbreds put in a classy performance to overcome the potentially tricky Lancing Lionhearts in fine style. The damage was done early on, with Laurie and Spencer flying out of the blocks, taking out a shellshocked Will Betts & Mylo Scurr to 2. Chris & Karen took a little longer to get going but pulled away fast from Joey Prior & Alex Abrahams once they got into their stride to move the Thoroughbreds into a 2-0 lead. The coup de grace was applied in the second rotation, as Spencer & Chris inflicted a second successive hiding on Lancing's No 1 Betts and Laurie & Karen produced some fireworks with a miracle win from 1-11 down to Prior & Scurr. With the match in the bag, Spencer & Karen took their collective foot off the gas to allow Lancing a consolation victory while Laurie & Chris wrapped up a 5-1 win with a convincing win in the blue riband match. Laurie's fine evening was capped off with five winners in the hole, sending him soaring up the "Golden Gloves" ranking into joint first position, level with Ant Theodossi and four ahead of the rest (including Karen). Our semi-final opponents will be decided tonight but on this form, the Thoroughbreds won't fear anyone.

13/06/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat NotOS 5-1

L.Brock & C.Austin beat G.Thomason & M.Quinn 15-8

N.Shaw & K.Hird beat T.Cox & I.Barber 15-6

L.Brock & K.Hird lost to T.Cox & M.Quinn 13-15

N.Shaw & C.Austin beat G.Thomason & I.Barber 15-1

L.Brock & N.Shaw beat G.Thomason & T.Cox 15-14

C.Austin & K.Hird beat M.Quinn & I.Barber 15-2

A strong finish to the Superleague regular season at Westway last night saw the Thoroughbreds defeat Not the Old Salopians by an impressive 5 points to 1 to clinch second place in the group and a quarter-final against either the Westway Wonders or the Lancing Lionhearts, who play their final games tonight. It looked like business as usual in matches between these two teams as George Thomason and Tom Cox were the first to pitch up; fears of a full strength Salopian team were then allayed by the other two members of the side - Marc Quinn is a fine player and it was great to see Izzy Barber back on court but there were players on the bench who could have cause the Thoroughbred team more problems. Karen easily had the edge at number four as Izzy unsurprisingly struggled in her three games; turning those three points into five required some work, though, and Chris waved the wand to good effect in his first outing of the campaign to beat Thomason & Quinn along with Laurie. Karen & Laurie were unable to repeat the dose in the second rotation against Cox & Quinn, despite a strong showing that got them to 13 points. This was the only defeat of the night, however, as Laurie & Nick finished on a high note with a tremendous 15-14 win over Thomason & Cox in the blue riband match. Karen furthered her Golden Glove ambitions with two shots in the hole and the Thoroughbreds march on confidently into the knockout stages.

07/06/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds lost to Coach & Horses 2-4

L.Brock & K.Hird lost to R.Perrie & T.Thurnham 9-15

N.Shaw & S.Chapman beat D.Patel & S.Shah 15-11

L.Brock & S.Chapman beat D.Patel & T.Thurnham 15-9

N.Shaw & K.Hird lost to R.Perrie & S.Shah 7-15

L.Brock & N.Shaw lost to R.Perrie & D.Patel 9-15

K.Hird & S.Chapman lost to T.Thurnham & S.Shah 4-15

Having been out to pasture last week as the other four teams in the group played each other, the Thoroughbreds made a slightly rusty return to the Westway course going down to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Westway-based table toppers the Coach & Horses. There were mitigating factors - Laurie was back in the side but had spent most of the last three weeks in court rather than on court and Nick had been giving blood for the cause (just not the Superleague cause) on Tuesday evening - but having battled hard to get to the last round of matches level pegging, the final rotation went the way of the Westway oufit, leaving the Thoroughbreds with work to do in the final match next week. Highlights were comebacks from 3-8 down by Nick (and Spencer) in the first rotation and from 2-7 by Laurie (and Spencer) in the second. The low point was the failure by Spencer (and Karen) to rally at all from 2-8 down in the third rotation, Karen understandably suffering from carrying the load at #3 and being Ryanised in her first two games. The crucial final game next week is against NotOS (not the Old Salopians) and sees the return of the Austin wand to the Thoroughbred ranks; NotOS conceded their match this week, unable to raise a side, and as we know the Salopians never manage to get their best side out against North Oxford. Oh hang on...

24/05/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds beat EFA Allstars 6-0

N.Shaw & S.Chapman beat M.Lewin & C.Wheeler 15-1

R.Wilson & K.Hird beat C.Ballingall & N.Lilienthal 15-4

N.Shaw & K.Hird beat C.Ballingall & C.Wheeler 15-9

R.Wilson & S.Chapman beat M.Lewin & N.Lilienthal 15-1

N.Shaw & R.Wilson beat M.Lewin & C.Ballingall 15-8

S.Chapman & K.Hird beat C.Wheeler & N.Lilienthal 15-4

After last week's Spring Classic, last night proved to be a gentle canter over the Downs as the Throroughbreds eased past a spirited but outclassed EFA team in comfortable fashion, barely needing to raise a gallop and even managing to absorb the late withdrawal of Laurie Brock and his being replaced by Captain Spencer without breaking stride. A seasonal debut for Karen Hird saw her make early inroads in the coveted Golden Glove award, with two kills in the hole getting her off to a flying start. Next up for the Thoroughbreds is the equine derby against the Coach & Horses on Wednesday as Laurie comes back into the side to replace Rob Wilson.

17/05/17 at Westway: Aston House Thoroughbreds drew with The Jesters 3-3

L.Brock & R.Wilson beat A.Theodossi & E.Hewens 15-12

N.Shaw & S.Chapman beat P.White & R.Malik 15-13

L.Brock & S.Chapman lost to P.White & E.Hewens 7-15

N.Shaw & R.Wilson beat A.Theodossi & R.Malik 15-8

L.Brock & N.Shaw lost to A.Theodossi & P.White 12-15

R.Wilson & S.Chapman lost to E.Hewens & R.Malik 13-15

The Aston House Thoroughbreds got their 2017 Superleague campaign underway at Westway last night with a rip-roaring heavyweight clash with the Jesters, which ended in a 3-3 draw. The Thoroughbreds got off to a flying start against the defending champions, winning both of the opening games as Laurie & Robert took down Ant Theodossi & Ed Hewens and Nick & Spencer edged past Pete White & Rez Malik. The Jesters are made of stern stuff, however, and after the middle rotation was split 1-1, Ant & Pete hit back to win the blue riband rubber 15-12 against Laurie & Nick, while Robert & Spencer were 10-12 to Ed & Rez when the lights went out, which meant that the scores were rounded up just as the Thoroughbreds were about to glide through on the rails to reach the winning post. It was honours even in the end, then, and an early sign that the Thoroughbreds will be looking to be involved at the sharp end of this competition in a few weeks time as they seek a first Superleague title since the inaugural competition back in 2010.