Bangor and Fruithill give chase in Strawbridge Cup

Division 2

• Fruithill Ravens 1-4 Fruithill
• Fruithill Ravens 1-4 Bangor
• Fruithill 4.5-0.5 Ballynafeigh 4
• Strand 4 1-4 Muldoons 2

Kelly's Heroes had a free week, giving the chasing pack an opportunity to put the leaders under some pressure. When the smoke cleared, Fruithill and Bangor had both closed to within 1.5 points of the Malone Road side. First up was a rescheduled match from week 1 between Fruithill and their newly-formed second team, the Ravens. The Ravens squad consisted of existing Fruithill players John Monaghan, Ross Smith and Evan Elwood alongside James Shaw and Robert Brown on loan from Ballynafeigh. The match ended 4-1 to Fruithill but the unrated Evan Elwood served notice that he will be a player to watch by beating Frank Carrothers (1330) with the black pieces. Next up for Fruithill were Ballynafeigh 4, who put up little resistance with only Colin Fenton taking a draw off Sean Linton. Bangor looked nailed on for a whitewash as they were well over 500 point per board favourites against the Ravens, but Ross Smith (953) claimed the upset of the week against Walter Wilson (1396). Their 4-1 win was still good enough to see them join Fruithill on 12.5 points. Last but not least, Muldoons 2 got their campaign off to a good start as they claimed a routine win over a Strand 4 side that included two players making their league debuts. Colin Burcombe fell to defeat against John Wood, while Aaditya Singh scored the home side's only point against Rachael Eachus.