The Cup/Plate Tournament runs in parallel with the League matches. All teams play in the 1st & 2nd rounds at which point it becomes a knockout competition. The winners of round 1 move onto round 2 of the Cup. The losers of round 1 move into the Plate rounds. Both Cup and Plate follow the same rules. Teams are drawn against each other so you have a 50/50 chance of playing a team in the other division in the first round. An odd number of teams allows 1 team to skip to the next round of matches (there is a maximum of 1 bye per team per year, so a team cannot skip all the way to the Final.) From the 2nd round onwards, teams get knocked out so in theory every team has at least 2 matches.
Last year’s winners were Blaby (Cup) and Hornettes (Plate).
Gracedieu Pearls v Swadlincote Swifts saw a replay of the League match last weekend. Swifts were on form despite injury, illness and sore heads from the night before. Pearls were able to play around with positions and put in a strong performance against last season’s Cup runner’s up. Swifts took the win for the 2nd week running.
Hornettes took on Gracedieu’s Diamonds with only 5 players. Even knowing it would be a tough match to win, the Hornettes were determined to not hand it to Diamonds lightly and they should be proud of their performance.
Whitwick Flames and Measham Tridents were next and an exciting first quarter saw only 1 goal difference. However, Tridents soon found their rhythm pulled away from Flames to secure their place in the Cup.
Gracedieu’s third team, Gems, took on Ashby’s second team, Flames, in the fourth match of the day. A good competitive match but Flames had the edge to win the match.
Last year’s Cup winner, Blaby, finished the day playing Whitwick’s Ignite. Ignite had a slow start but calmed down by Q2 and showed consistency on court. Blaby eased into the match quickly and secured their place in the 2nd round of the Cup matches.
So congratulations to Swifts, Diamonds, Tridents, Ashby Flames and Blaby for staying in the Cup. But also congratulation to Pearls, Hornettes, Whitwick Flames, Gems and Ignite for moving into the Plate Tournament.
Next weekend sees another 8 teams battle it out for a place in the Cup and Plate rounds.