A strong England squad was selected to contest the UK & Ireland Championships, held at the Holiday Inn Express, Cardiff Airport on 17/18 May.

Unfortunately Chris Short had to drop out due to work commitments, however after England Captain Pawsey made a few enquiries, the ESTFA Chairman Martin Hodds was free that weekend, so was able to take Chris’s place.

Individuals

Saturday saw the Individual Competition, with Scotland’s Mike Burns defending his title. Surprisingly the Champ was knocked out in the group stage with defeats to Kenny Beggs of Northern Ireland and our own Steve Hawkins. Steve topped Group 1 with wins over Burns (2-0), Beggs (1-0) and a 1-1 draw with Scotland’s Gareth Christie, who finished 2nd in a really tough group.

Group 2 wasn’t much easier, though England Captain Dave Pawsey won all 3 games comfortably against Hodds (2-0), Scottish Champion Steve Bennett (4-0) and Welshman Gareth Thomas (10-5). After Hodds and Bennett beat Thomas 6-1 and 8-1 respectively, the final game between the 2 meant Bennett needed a draw to advance on goals scored, with Hodds needing to win. However an excellent end to end game ended 2-2.

Group 3 was comfortably won by Mike Parnaby, with wins over Scotland’s Neil Christopher (3-1), Northern Ireland’s Stuart McIlroy (3-1) and Wales’ John Lauder (3-0).

In Group 4, English National Champion Chris Thomas eased through with wins over Scotland’s Kevin Christopher (5-1), Welshman Colin Lewis (3-1) and Ulsterman Eoin Adams (9-1).

So 4 of the 5 English players advanced to the Quarter finals, and 3 of them made it to the semis. Chris Thomas beat Gareth Christie 3-0, Steve Hawkins beat Kevin Christopher 2-0 and captain Pawsey beat Stuart McIlroy 5-0. Mike Parnaby went down 1-5 to Steve Bennett.

So to the semis, and in the all English clash, Steve Hawkins upset the odds to beat Chris Thomas 2-0. His final opponent would be Dave Pawsey, who knocked out Steve Bennett 3-0.

An all English final was played in front of a sparse crowd, with most players having gone to watch the FA Cup final on TV ! A tense first half finished goalless, however Pawsey’s rich vein of form continued after the break to leave Hawkins trailing in his wake to the tune of 4-0 !

Nice to see the England Captain back on form and taking the title.

Teams

England made a solid start in their attempt to wrestle the title from the Scots. After Scotland defeated Northern Ireland 3-1 in the opening game, England beat the hosts Wales 2-1. Captain Pawsey continued his strong form with a 5-0 defeat of Colin Lewis.

In the 2nd round of games, Scotland first beat Wales 3-0, leaving England needing a good win over the 3 man Northern Ireland team.

Thankfully a good all round performance saw us win 4-0. Steve Hawkins notched the biggest win, 5-1 against Eoin Adams and Dave Pawsey won 2-0 against their danger man Kenny Beggs.

After Wales and Northern Ireland drew their final game 2-2, this left Northern Ireland in the wooden spoon position. And so to the final game, England v Scotland. Thanks to the comprehensive win against Northern Ireland, England went into the game ahead of the Scots by the slenderest margin of 1 goal ! This effectively reduced the match to a sudden death tie – a win for Scotland, whatever the margin, and they would retain the title, but a draw would be enough for England.

Early goals from Hodds and Pawsey put England in a commanding position at 2-0 up. Pawsey was quickly pulled back by Scotland captain Mike Burns, however Chris Thomas also scored against Steve Bennett to restore the lead. At half time, Hodds was 2-0 up on Kevin Christopher, who was substituted for his brother Neil, and England led the tie 2-0.

Pawsey fell behind in the 2nd half, however Hodds and Thomas both extended their leads, and with Hawkins drawing 0-0 with Gareth Christie, the 2-1 lead looked to be enough. Hodds went on to win 4-0, and though Bennett pulled a goal back to 2-1, Hawkins sealed the England win with a late goal to win his game 1-0. So 3-1 to England, and the title recaptured, but credit to our rivals from north of the border for their part in a cracking tie !

Darren Clark and Kasper Bennett made the trip to Bologna, and both made it through their groups. Darren went down 1-0 to Malta’s Joe Mifsud in the 2nd round, while Kasper triumphed by the same score against Carmine Napolitano. Unfortunately the run ended with a 1-0 reverse to Francisco Mattiangeli in the last 32.

Saturday was GP day, and England’s best performer was Andrew Hillerby, reaching the semi final before going down by a golden goal to eventual winner Mike Burns. Richard Pepper and Paul Lawrenson also qualified from their groups, but were beaten by Hillerby and Ireland’s John Moore in the Quarter finals. Pepper also made it to the final of the Veterans competition, where he lost narrowly to Nicky Moore.

In the team GP team event, Yorkshire Phoenix beat Belfast Barbarians B team 4-0 to set up a final clash with Irish Premier League. A close final finished 2-1 to Phoenix, with Kenny Beggs and Richard Pepper netting the wins for Yorkshire’s first FISTF title.

In the IO, Andrew Hillerby went a step further but lost 4-2 to Kenny Beggs in the final. Andrew knocked out Richard Pepper in the semi finals as the veteran Pepper qualified from his group again. Richard also finished 3rd in the Veterans category. Paul Lawrenson didn’t make it through this time, but did win the plate competition.