A chilly day welcomed the two teams, but fortunately there was no rain in the forecast.

A close match was expected, as Wanstead had reached the last 8 of the competition last year, losing only to Chelmsford who had knocked Stoke out in Round 1. 

Team Captain Peter Garnett had fortunately taken the unusual step of naming several reserves for this match and this turned out to be a good decision as there were two late call offs for a variety of reasons. Thanks to Mike Moore and Brian Roloff for stepping in at short notice.

Stoke started strongly with newcomer to the squad Mike Hatton(5.8) winning 3 & 2 against Paul Knight (1.9). There followed some great performances bu Mark Clark (7 & 6), Richard Cross (6 & 4) and John Parkinson (7 & 5). Another notable win came from Simon Oliphant (6 & 5 after giving 4 shots to his opponent).

The final score - Stoke by Nayland 9.5 – Wanstead 1.5

This was a strong squad performance and we look forward with confidence to meeting either Chingford or Hainault Forest away in Round 2 next month.

An excellent performance from our team - many thanks to Peter G for both managing the team & providing this report.

Squad …………

Richard Cross

Ian McKay

John Smith

John Parkinson

Ian Smith

Michael Hatton

Simon Oliphant

Phil Boyland

Andy Higginson

Mark Clark

Phil Hickley

Mike Moore

Brian Roloff