It's crunch time for both the A team and B team.
Shifnal & Telford B v Newport B 1 - 4
G Randle 0, N Rutter 1; G Edwards 0, A Holdford 1; S Tennant 0, D Griffiths 1; R Thompson 0, S Davies 1; W Peck 1, Default 0.

The A team has managed to claw it's way out of the relegation zone on "goal difference" and has 2 games left, when, hopefully, the students, Tom Pym, Gavyn Cooper, Alex Taylor and Chris Lewis will be back. My place will be under threat, but I might get a game on board 5!!

Newport B are on 4 points 2 behind Ludlow with 3 games left. It will be tight to avoid going down to division 3 and joining the juniors.

The juniors are starting to show real promise and were unfortunate not to at least draw against Telepost in their last match.
Newport Juniors v Telepost C 1.5 - 3.5
J Allan 0.5, C Micallef 0.5; J Newey 1, V Crean 0; L Upton 0, M Pugh 1; B Upton 0, S Sweeney 1; Default 0, A Bowyer 1

NEWPORT B WIN !!! Report by Dave Lovegrove
Unfortunately, Athar was a late cancellation in our planned away match against Telford & Wrekin C. With both teams desperately needing a win to try and retain our div2 status I tried desperately for a replacement without success.
 
Starting at 1 down was a big blow which I didn't really see us overcoming especially when we were out-graded on the top 3 boards (by 20 points on the top 2).
 
My game against Tim Skidmore on board 4 was quite even though I was a pawn up from quite early on. Tim asked for a draw which I may have accepted if it was not for the fact we were 1 down so i rejected this and eventually wore him down until he resigned , phew its 1-1.
 
Ok I continue to monitor the other 3 boards. Sellick  is under attack from Windsor Peck but Sellick is well up on time so Windsor resigns with a couples of minutes left on his clock. We are now 2-1 up
 
 Meanwhile Steve Cooper puts up a good attack against Richard Gillesbie on Board 1 but is struggling for time. Richard plays coolly until he sees an opportunity for a check. Once that happened there was no way back. Richard mates in 3 against an open king. Its Now 2-2
 
We all huddle around board 3 where Paul Brodrick is up against Roger Brown, a master of end games. Paul had already offered Roger a draw whilst Steve and Sellick were still playing . Paul was up quite a bit up on time at that stage and material was level if not an advantage with Paul. Paul was concerned about Rogers end game and probably even more so when Roger rejected the offer.
By the time Sellick and Steve had finished there games Paul had 14 minutes left on his clock and Roger had 1 minute. An easy victory we all thought. Roger had other ideas. Whilst Paul was contemplating his moves over a 2 or 3 minute period (though every move felt like 10 minutes) Roger had an instant reply. I was pacing up and down the room. I look at there clocks and both now have 1 minute showing , its a nightmare !
 
I cannot look any longer so go to the washroom and return to find Shifnal cheering , luckily they are winding me up Rogers flag has fallen. Pauls,s flag was measured to have fallen 8 seconds later how cool was he!! 
 
So we win 3-2 and live to fight another day for our survival . Alas we relegate Shifnal & Telford C to Div 3 which is difficult to believe with their grades.

A TEAM STAY UP: 25/03/10

The A team beat  Shrewsbury A 4-1 to confirm their place in league 1 for next season. Wins for Alex Taylor, Gavyn Cooper and Tony Holdford, plus draws on the top 2 boards by Nick Rutter and Tom Pym, led to a comfortable result, although the games were closer than the scoreline suggests.
There seems to be some confusion in the first division, with the possibility of Shifnal and Telford B having to forfeit 2 fixtures where they may have fielded an ineligible player. This may be due to the limit on the number of games an A team player can also play for the B team. Newport would benefit from this, since we lost one of the games in question, which would change to a draw.

JUNIORS LOSE
The juniors could only field 3 players, who put up a battling performance against Shifnal and Telford, with a win for Jamie and a draw by Marc in a dramatic time scramble against Roger Brown.