Worcester City Team 2011-2012
Captain's report
Captain Andrew Farthing reports. We made a valiant effort to defend our title but in the end fell comfortably short of deserving winners, Halesowen I. It was unfortunate that both matches against Halesowen coincided with the unavailability of several top players. Four of our players were undefeated in the competition: Steve Mellor (2 wins, 3 draws); Peter Kitson (6 wins, 3 draws); Nick Harris (3 wins, 3 draws) and Jim Keene (3 wins, 4 draws). Of these, Peter's performance was outstanding: he missed only one match, played several games on top board and in two tight matches provided the win which secured overall victory. In the end, clear second place was a creditable result in a season in which we often struggled to field a full-strength team. When we did, we were unbeatable.
County League
| Worcester City County League Fixtures and Results 2011-12 Captain: Andrew Farthing, telephone 01905 358 949 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 date | Venue | Opponents | Result 2011-12 |
Result 2010-11 |
| Friday 7 October | Away | Hagley | won 5 - 1 | lost 2½ - 3½ |
| Wednesday 26 October | Away | Kidderminster I | lost 2½ - 3½ | won 5 - 1 |
| Thursday 3 November | Home | Halesowen I | lost 1 - 5 | won 5 - 1 |
| Thursday 10 November | Home | Malvern | won 3½ - 2½ | won 5 - 1 |
| Thursday 17 November | Home | Redditch I | won 3½ - 2½ | no match |
| 2012 date | ||||
| Thursday 12 January | Home | Kidderminster I | won 3½ - 2½ | lost 2½ - 3½ |
| Tuesday 31 January | Away | Redditch I | won 4 - 2 | no match |
| Thursday 8 March | Home | Hagley | drew 3 - 3 | won 4½ - 1½ |
| Friday 23 March | Away | Malvern | drew 3 - 3 | won 5½ - ½ |
| Tuesday 3 April | Away | Halesowen I | lost 0 - 6 | lost 2½ - 3½ |
Wheatley Cup 2011-12 season: City in the final again
Worcester City has already won this competition on four occasions, including 2009. Teams have five players and games are not graded and are completed in 1½ hours with quickplay finish rules. Only six clubs entered this ungraded, team handicap competition. Worcester City had a bye in the first round (the quarter finals). We were drawn against Malvern in the semi-final. Adopting a strategy of playing a relatively low-graded team against Malvern's team of strong players, we began with a useful head start under the handicap. Malvern's default on bottom board made their task even more difficult. In the end, Ray's impressive win on second board (in the last game to finish) saw us "comfortably" home. The final will be against Greenlands on a date to be arranged.