York’s fencing team are through to the semi-finals of the BUCS knockouts after a dramatic win over Aberdeen.
Due to a misunderstanding between the teams and the organisers at BUCS, Aberdeen’s team arrived over three hours early, and some had train tickets that were valid only for a train that left in the middle of the match. They looked frustrated before the match had even begun.
A confident performance from York’s sabreurs saw them take a 45-27 lead. Tom Jones, Harry Whitwell and Adrian Speakman all impressed; recording indicators of +5, +6 and +7 respectively. Speakman’s would have been even higher had a controversial point in the second bout not gone against him: he lost the point after his blade has been snapped off. He lost that bout 5-6, but the incident spurred him on to a better performance; his last bout was against Marcus Schroder, who awarded the contentious point against him, and Speakman triumphed 5-0.
Aberdeen were much more proficient with foils, beating York 30-45. The deficit could’ve been even more, was it not for a superb performance from York’s latest addition, Ewan Chipping, against Aberdeen captain Scott Chalmers. Chalmers was looking unstoppable after accruing a huge +9 indicator over two bouts against York linchpins Tom Skingle and Harry Whitwell, but Chipping retained composure to win 7-5 to put York ahead, albeit slightly, going into the final weapon.
York needed to reach 43 in the épées to come out victorious. Their hopes were dinted when Chalmers came back to life with an emphatic 5-0 win against Phil Sellars in the second bout. Sellars was replaced by Steve Bainbridge: a move which paid off when Bainbridge beat Schroder 2-0 in a tentative encounter, putting York and Aberdeen on level terms going into the last two bouts. The penultimate one, Tom Skingle vs. AJ Johnston, was pivotal. Skingle stormed into a 6-1 lead, but lost composure slightly as Johnston came back to 6-5. Skingle took the next one, then points were shared from an attaque simutanée, before Skingle romped to a 10-6 victory.
Victory for York wasn’t secure at that point; Harry Whitwell had lost his foil bout against Scott Chalmers 1-5, and a similar result would’ve seen Aberdeen win the match. There was to be no repeat, and a cheer from the York bench echoed through the main hall as Whitwell clinched his third point, and the team’s magic 43rd.
York sit in 2nd place in Northern League 1A, and Birmingham, their opponents for the semi-final, occupy 2nd place in the equivalent Midlands league; a intensely competitive match is expected. When asked if his team could win the trophy, captain Tom Skingle defiantly replied “Yes – in a word”.
The semi-final will take place in the sports centre on Wednesday 2nd March.