FURNESS CC Juniors are out to repeat their Tom Dixon Cup triumph of two seasons ago after reaching the quarter-finals.

The Barrow and District Table Tennis League handicap competition is played so all teams are on a level playing field.

The handicaps proved well set between the Cricket Club side and St Pat's D, with the match ending in a 5-4 victory to the juniors, who were giving starts of between nine and 16 points.

The top performance came from St Pat’s Ben Charnley, who saw off all three Furness players, including a match against Ben McDonald in which both games went to sudden death, Charnley taking each 21-20.

A strong team performance from Furness eventually won them the match though, with Matty Rigg and Ryan Cotton both winning two of their matches to put them across the line.

League newcomers Hawcoat Park T2B beat Division One leaders St Pat's in convincing fashion.

Helped by handicaps as high as 18, brothers Adam and Connor McLoughlin, and Seth Woodend, each won all three matches against St Pat's strongest trio of Jonny Crawford, Jonny Lowes and Paul Ackred, beating them 9-0.

While disappointed to lose, defeat was not too bitter as all three Hawcoat players are coached by the St Pat's men, with their hard work paying dividends.

Victory means Hawcoat Park are the youngest team to progress to the quarter-finals in several years.

Another St Pat's team went up against a young Hawcoat Park side, as St Pat's A met HP Thunderbats.

This affair had almost the opposite result though, as St Pat's overcame handicaps of nine and 15 in order to run out 8-1 winners.

Both Stephen Cairns and Joe Cotton won all three of their matches, with Matt O’Flynn winning two and young Chloe Irvine beating O’Flynn to ensure it was not a whitewash.

There was a close match as Thwaites A – trying to emulate the cup success of their first team last season – saw off Parkview Former Pupils, despite the outstanding performance of Chris Lysons, who maintained his 100 per cent start to the season.

Lysons was the only person to beat Peter Grayson and Jack Andrews, who won a three-set thriller last up against Chris Polkinghorn in order to ensure Thwaites went through as 5-4 winners.

An all-Division One affair at Hawcoat Park saw their A-team up against newly-promoted St Pat's B.

The match started off one-sided, as Gareth Brunton, Ryan Smith and Tony Whitehouse saw off Mike Gasson, Darren Finlayson and Barry Lowden to give Hawcoat a 3-0 lead.

However, St Pat's won four of the next five to make the scores level going into the final match.

Finlayson gave Hawcoat a scare in taking a 1-0 lead in that match, and the comeback would have been complete had it not been for the cool head of Brunton (who was surrendering an eight point handicap), winning the last two 21-19 and retaining Hawcoat’s status in the competition.

An all-Hawcoat Park affair saw the C-team play the first team

Despite the handicap starts being against them, the first team thrashed the C-team, who never really had a chance to get into it, 5-0.

The third match played at Hawcoat Park proved more like the first for entertainment, as Hawcoat Park B narrowly defeated Furness CC Juniors A 5-4.

The ageless Derek Harker used every bit of his experience in this encounter against the young Furness side, as he won all five of his matches, including the all-important final match-up against Stefan Weatherburn.

Weatherburn played his part, winning his other two matches and helping keep Furness’ hopes alive going into the final game, in which he was a little unfortunate not to send his team through.

The final match in the round was played at Haverigg Cricket Club, as Millom Former Pupils hosted to Division Two outfit Halifax.

Despite only playing with two men, and having handicaps against them, Millom put in a perfect performance and came out of it 6-3 victors.

Both Neil Smith and Nick Woods won all three of their matches in straight sets to ensure Millom live to fight another day in the cup.

RESULTS

St Pat's D 4 Furness CC Juniors 5 (player-of-the-match: Ben Charnley); St Pat's 0 Hawcoat Park T2B 9 (player-of-the-match: Adam McLoughlin); St Pat's A 8 HP Thunderbats 1 (player-of-the-match: Stephen Cairns); Parkview FP 4 Thwaites A 5 (player-of-the-match: Chris Lysons); Hawcoat Park A 5 St Pat's B 4 (player-of-the-match: Barry Lowden); Hawcoat Park C 0 Hawcoat Park 5 (player-of-the-match: Ray Adams); Hawcoat Park B 5 Furness CC Juniors A 4 (player-of-the-match: Derek Harker); Millom FP 6 Halifax 3 (player-of-the-match: Nick Woods).