GARGRAVE A are hoping they can win the Clarkson Cup for the first time in 40 years after reaching the final.

They travelled to Rolls Royce where they defeated Silsden Playing Fields 218-199 in the semi-finals. Playing Fields received a ten start and Richard Bloodworth gave them a big boost with a 21-5 victory.

By the time the first four games were completed, the overall lead was reduced to one point. Despite a narrow 21-20 victory for Lee Hicks, Gargrave were boosted by wins from Martyn Cox 21-10 and Cliff Taylor 21-6.

Paul Drinkall 21-11, Cath Rushton 21-18, Martyn Foulds 21-13 and most decisively Keith Moore 21-7 gave Gargrave a 34-points lead with two games remaining.

With Gargrave only requiring nine points to secure victory the task for the last two Playing Fields players was almost impossible.

Andy Woolner and Arthur Woollacott gained victory to 11 and 16 respectively, but this was insufficient to stop Gargrave winning.

Devon A will be Gargrave’s final opponents after beating last season’s runners-up Sutton A 216-170.

Gary Bowdin got Sutton off to a flyer with a confident 21-8 win, but Devon hit back through Robbie Ellis 21-6 and Martin Lee 21-8.

Anthony Emmott did well for Sutton to come back and win 21-20. Sutton skipper David Cadwallader needed a big performance, but Dan Moore was up to the task to come off with 19.

The match was effectively over when Les Foster 21-6, Richard Perry 21-9 and Kevin Burnett 21-18 put Devon in the driving seat.

Stephen Lofthouse was in top form for Devon winning 21-4, before Peter Finnie got a late 21-20 win for Sutton.

Whinfield A capitalised on their 75-points start to defeat Division One leaders Cononley A in the Supplementary Ambulance Cup at Silsden Playing Fields 228-188.

Cononley came out strong and picked up four winners but Whinfield did ok, with Brian Stott getting 16 against Rob Scarr and John Parkin going down 21-15 against Tony Langstroth.

Stuart Myers 21-12 and Ian Dewhirst 21-9 reduced Winfield’s lead by 31 points.

Graham Reay 21-7 pulled back another 14 points, in the other games Joe Middleton and David Hudson where performing wonders for Whinfield. Middleton went down 21-20 to Jim Calvert while Hudson picked up 16 against Michael Higson.

Brian Perry did the business for Whinfield with a 21-9 win and though Tony Finn won 21-16 for Cononley, Gary Bailey 21-11 finished it for Whinfield.

Gargrave C’s brave run came to an end as Crosshills B proved too strong. Although Gargrave C had 75 points start it was never going to be enough. Rebecca Seward 21-7, Russell Newton 21-12, Idris Wade 21-4 and Peter Dowgill 21-14 reduced the lead by 47.

Chris Hasselby 21-5 and Stuart MacDonald 21-8 followed up with further victories before stubborn resistance from Gargrave C saw Peter Duck get 17 against Ronnie Elrick while Alan Guilfoyle scored 20 against Bob Savage.

Christine Hasselby 21-17 and Derek Squires 21-8 completed the ten winners for Crosshills B in a 270-247 win.