Dukes Park's Chris Dobson battles back to beat home star Josh Emmerson in Winter Merit final at Whitby
The second Winter Singles merit took place at Whitby, relocated from Robin Hood’s Bay because of over-running maintenance work.
In the first round Ross Daniel (Robin Hood’s Bay) had a good 21-11 win against Whitby’s Joyce Harland while, Kenny Wale won an all-Whitby game against Harland’s brother Tommy Roberts by the same score.
Chris Dobson (Dukes Park) won 21-8 against Ronnie Noble (Borough) and Scott Wardman (North Cliff) had a 21-7 win against Albert Beggs (Brid Bay).
Ashley Brunton-Douglas (Eastfield) won 21-10 against Ian Harland (Whitby) and Alan Boland (Whitby) winning 21-12 against Mally Kay (North Cliff). This was also the score when Kevin Gates (Dukes Park) beat David Muir (Eastfield).
Nigel Trotter (North Cliff) won 21-10 against Peter Fewster (RHB) and Larry Dixon (Westgate) beat another RHB player, James Arnold, 21-8.
Emmo Emmerson (Whitby) was drawn against his wife and clubmate Sue Emmerson, Emmo winning 21-19 while Tim Purcell won another all-Whitby game against Geoff Leatherland 21-20.
Denise Dobson (Dukes Park) won 21-10 against Daphne Fewster (RHB) and Josh Emmerson (Whitby) beat Brian Dalby (Borough) 21-11.
In the second round Adam Chilvers (North Cliff) won 21-18 against Pauline Allison (Borough) and Daniel beat Peter McCrory (Whitby) 21-16. Chris Dobson then beat Wale 21-18 to face Wardman who beat Brunton-Douglas 21-19.
In the bottom half of the draw Gates had a 21-15 win against Boland to set up a quarter-final against Trotter who crushed Dixon 21-8. The quarter-final line-up was completed when Emmo Emmerson beat Denise Dobson 21-16 to face another family game against son Josh who won 21-19 against Purcell.
Chilvers put paid to Daniel’s hopes with a 21-10 win to face Chris Dobson who won 21-14 against Wardman. Gates beat Trotter 21-18 while Josh won the “Battle of the Emmersons” winning 21-10 against this father.
The first semi-final was a close affair with Dobson finally taking it 21-19 against Chilvers while Josh Emmerson cruised through 21-9 against Gates.
The final swung both ways with Dobson taking a 12-8 lead after 10 ends only for Emmerson to six successive ends to lead 16-12. Dobson then won the next three ends to pull back to 15-16 down when Emmerson opened up a gap with a two to lead 18-15. Dobson then took control and won four ends to take the competition 21-18.
All the first game losers entered the T&B along with three others making an entry of 18.
In the first round, Dave Moment (North Cliff) & Daphne Fewster beat Roberts & Beggs 21-17 while McCrory & Leela Chilvers (North Cliff) won 21-20 against Noble & Arnold. Joyce Harland & Sue Emmerson won 21-8 against Kay & Ian Harland to face Leatherland & Allison who won 21-17 against Dalby & Peter Fewster.
In the first quarter-final McCrory & Leela Chilvers pushed Moment & Daphne Fewster hard but eventually lost 21-19 while Leatherland & Allison won 21-15 against Joyce & Sue.
In the final Leatherland & Allison beat Moment & Fewster 21-16.
The prizes were presented by RHB Competition Secretary Tim Purcell.
Next Sunday sees another Open Singles at Eastfield, entry is on the day with the draw being made at 9am.
There is also a Drawn Pairs T&B for first game losers and “late arrivals”. To ensure entry for this it is advisable to arrive no later than 11am.