WSSL Week Six: Aston House Teams Gallop Into The Final
30/06/22: The Westway Summer Superleague semi-finals saw victories for the Stampede and the Thoroughbreds to set up an all Aston House final next week.
This year's competition has featured six teams - Aston House Thoroughbreds, Aston House Stampede, Newbury HA1, Westway Warriors, Emanuel Wanderers and Highgate - battling it out in a round robin format followed by semi-finals, final and 3rd/4th and 5th/6th play-off matches.
Week Six saw the competition resuming after a week's break with the semi-finals and 5th/6th play-off. Regular season table toppers the Aston House Stampede continued their excellent run of form with a dominant victory over Newbury HA1 with the powerful quartet of Riki Houlden, Tom McCahon, Nathan Turnbull and Nick Shaw proving too strong for Richard Tyler, Will Seath, Ollie Avery and Jack Hopkins. The other semi-final had the look of a close one, as the Thoroughbreds took on Highgate. Both sides were missing key players, with Noah Caplin unavailable for AHT and Joe Marks and the Bhattacharya brothers absent from the Highgate line-up. The return of Alex Abrahams to the starting line-up gave the Thoroughbreds the boost they needed and two wins in the first rotation (including a crucial 15-14 win for Sahil Shah & Stephen Thatcher over Jack Ledigo & Emily Scoones) gave the Aston House team a lead which they never relinquished. The Stampede will take on the Thoroughbreds in next Tuesday's final, while Highgate will be up against Newbury HA1 in the 3rd/4th match.
Wednesday's match saw the Westway Warriors defeat Emanuel Wanderers in the 5th/6th play-off, the home side's greater strength in depth taking them to a 5-1 win in an exciting match, with two of the six games going all the way to 14-14.
Chief Stampeder Riki Houlden closed in on both the MVP award and the Golden Gloves title with another perfect record, making it 18 wins out of 18 in the competition and adding another four winners into the hole to take his tally well clear of his nearest challenger Adam Field. Karen Hird of the Thoroughbreds is the only player who can prevent Riki from becoming tournament MVP and is still the only other player over the 200 point mark.
League Table
P |
W |
D |
L |
Points |
|
Aston House Stampede |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
26 |
Aston House Thoroughbreds |
5 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
25 |
Highgate |
5 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
18 |
Newbury HA1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
Emanuel Wanderers |
5 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
6 |
Westway Warriors |
5 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
5 |
Results
Week Six
Semi-Finals
Aston House Stampede (R.Houlden, T.McCahon, N.Turnbull, N.Shaw) beat Newbury HA1 (R.Tyler, W.Seath, O.Avery, J.Hopkins) 6-0
Aston House Thoroughbreds (A.Abrahams, S.Shah, K.Hird, S.Thatcher) beat Highgate (O.Hallam, J.Ledigo, R.Morgan, E.Scoones) 5-1
5th/6th Play-Off
Westway Warriors (A.Field, F.Lebon, T.Campbell, C.Wheeler) beat Emanuel Wanderers (F.Prickett, J.Hammond, C.Nkwocha, T.Bush) 5-1
Final (Tuesday 5th July)
Aston House Stampede v Aston House Thoroughbreds
3rd/4th Play-Off (Tuesday 5th July)
Newbury HA1 v Highgate
Week Five
Aston House Thoroughbreds (N.Caplin, K.Hird, S.Thatcher, N.Choustikov) beat Westway Warriors (A.Field, F.Lebon, T.Campbell, C.Wheeler) 6-0
Newbury HA1 (O.Denby, O.Avery, W.Thomas, P.Holland) beat Emanuel Wanderers (F.Prickett, C.Lumbard, S.Kelly, M.Till) 4-2
Aston House Stampede (R.Houlden, T.McCahon, M.Chinery, N.Shaw) beat Highgate (O.Hallam, Ar.Bhattacharya, Ab.Bhattacharya, D.Lioubimov) 5-1
Week Four
Aston House Thoroughbreds (Sahil Shah, K.Hird, S.Thatcher, S.Chapman) beat Emanuel Wanderers (C.Nkwocha, R.Swallow, Saajan Shah, T.Bush) 6-0
Highgate (O.Hallam, Ab.Bhattacharya, D.Lioubimov, R.Morgan) beat Newbury HA1 (W.Seath, W.Thomas, P.Holland, J.Hopkins) 5-1
Aston House Stampede (R.Houlden, T.McCahon, N.Turnbull, M.Chinery) beat Westway Warriors (P.Wilkinson, C.Wheeler, M.Gwynne, J.Caplin) 6-0
Week Three
Aston House Stampede (R.Houlden, N.Turnbull, N.Shaw, C.Austin) beat Newbury HA1 (M.de Souza Girao, W.Seath, J.Hopkins, O.Avery) 6-0
Emanuel Wanderers (F.Prickett, S.Kelly, C.Nkwocha, T.Bush) beat Westway Warriors (A.Field, D.McCahon, C.Wheeler, N.Lilienthal) 4-2
Aston House Thoroughbreds (N.Caplin, A.Abrahams, S.Shah, K.Hird) beat Highgate (J.Marks, D.Lioubimov, Ar.Bhattacharya, Ab.Bhattacharya) 4-2
Week Two
Highgate (O.Hallam, R.Morgan, J.Ledigo, E.Scoones) beat Emanuel Wanderers (J.Hammond, S.Kelly, M.Till, A.Lewthwaite) 6-0
Aston House Stampede (R.Houlden, N.Turnbull, N.Shaw, M.Chinery) drew with Aston House Thoroughbreds (N.Caplin, A.Abrahams, S.Shah, K.Hird) 3-3
Westway Warriors (A.Field, P.Wilkinson, M.Gwynne, D.McCahon) drew with Newbury HA1 (W.Seath, W.Thomas, P.Holland, O.Avery) 3-3
Week One
Aston House Stampede (R.Houlden, T.McCahon, M.Chinery, B.Merrett) beat Emanuel Wanderers (J.Reynolds, J.Hammond, T.Bush, R.Swallow) 6-0
Highgate (Ab.Bhattacharya, J.Ledigo, E.Scoones, D.Lioubimov) beat Westway Warriors (F.Lebon, A.Field, P.Griffiths, D.Thackeray) 4-2
Aston House Thoroughbreds (N.Caplin, K.Hird, S.Thatcher, N.Choustikov) beat Newbury HA1 (M.de Souza Girao, R.Tyler, J.Hopkins, O.Avery) 6-0
MVP Race Leaders
Riki Houlden 270
Karen Hird 250
Adam Field 188
Tom McCahon 180
Stephen Thatcher 180
Matt Chinery 166
Noah Caplin 164
Nathan Turnbull 164
Nick Shaw 158
Abhishek Bhattacharya 145
Dan Lioubimov 140
Sahil Shah 137
Oli Hallam 131
Alex Abrahams 125
Emily Scoones 122
Will Thomas 111
Paul Holland 107
Ollie Avery 107
Ralph Morgan 107
Jack Ledigo 104
Frank Lebon 101
Chris Wheeler 97
Fred Prickett 94
Toby Bush 91
Nick Choustikov 90
Golden Gloves (Shots in the Hole)
Riki Houlden 17
Adam Field 13
Fred Prickett 6
Karen Hird 5
Sahil Shah 5
Abhishek Bhattacharya 4
Noah Caplin 4
Oli Hallam 4
Ollie Avery 3
Matt Chinery 3
Nick Shaw 3
Stephen Thatcher 3
Nathan Turnbull 3
Chris Wheeler 3
Mark Gwynne 2
James Hammond 2
Stephen Kelly 2
Chiedo Nkwocha 2
Will Thomas 2