Late rally clinches draw for Dons

BADMINTON: DONS, the reigning champions, were held to a thrilling 9-9 draw by Northern Flight on the opening night of the Oldham and Rochdale Badminton League.

Including a Pete Ramsden and Martin Spencer 21-19 win, Dons won three of their first four games in the Division One clash.

Flight hit back to secure victories in the next four games for a 5-3 lead, only for Martin Spencer and Neil Tuersley (21-19) to pull one back for Dons.

But the visitors won the next three games to open up a seemingly unassailable 8-4 advantage.

But it wasn’t over. Spencer and Tuersley won their last two games 21-8 and 21-17, with John Horlock and David Johnson winning another 24-22. With the match score at 9-7 in Flight’s favour, two victories were needed from Nick Weston and Pete Ramsden to secure Dons a draw, which they dually managed 21-14 and 21-18. And, remarkably, the points were level at 336-336.

A strong Alpha Whitworth ‘A’ team registered an emphatic 18-0 win at Saddleworth ‘A’.

The highlight for Alpha was a 21-7 win for Paul Baker and Yunis Musa. Saddleworth worked hard, with the partnerships of Dave Walford/Ian Hartley and Josh Lea/Martin Kelly going close.