Shoulder-to-Shoulder Catch Up

There's been a bit of a delay in getting these scores out to people.  Sorry for the wait.  Since the Sarisbury match, City has had a few further matches and we've now finished our the 2016-17 shoulder-to-shoulder season (which will also be our last season at the Hambrook St range).  Our performance was a bit of a mixed bag of results if we're honest but it's not without its highlights.  Here's how we did.

Havant A - 491 A. Morley (99) A. Perry (99) J. Alexander (98) J. Allsop (98) L. Hanna (95) M. Nevatte (97) M. Reynolds (95) T. Brown (99)

Portsmouth City - 485 A. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (99) I. Cooper (98) J. Rowe (95) T. Sommerville (96) R. Ashman (94) S. Hart (95)

It's fair to say that we were outmatched on this one.  We weren't quite able to get a full team together but congratulation to Havant for a very respectable winning score.  A small note of congratulations should also go to Tom Sommerville for his first counted-in score.

So by this point, we'd shot 10 matches and lost 4.  I wish I could say we turned it around after this, but there was one more defeat to come...

This time we really were reduced in numbers and could only muster a team of 6.  It was a close match... but didn't go our way.

Portsmouth Railway - 484 J. Ring (98) M. Carter (92) C. Coles (99) C. Richards (96) N. Toms (96) N. Perman (95) K. Hardyman (95)

Portsmouth City - 482 I. Cooper (98) A. Nevatte (94) G. Scruton (96) J. Rowe (97) P. Upchurch (91) S. Hart (97)

So where our defeat against Sarisbury meant we had to say goodbye to any hopes we had for winning the championship this year, these defeats against Havant and Railway meant we had to say goodbye to achieving runner-up, as we had last year.

Thankfully, the news gets better for City from here.

Portsmouth City - 484 I. Cooper (99) A. Nevatte (93) L. Haskett (96) P. Upchurch (90) S. Hart (98) J. Rowe (98) R. Ashman (89) T. Sommerville (88)

West Meon A - 480 G. Stone (89) P. Hannington (95) M. Atkins (95) G. Dixon (92) A. Smith (100) D. Corbett (98)

So we got back on the winning track but congratulations need to go to A. Smith of West Meon for his ton.

Wickham had started very strong this season but, like City, had encountered a slump mid-season.  This was a home match for City, so we had the advantage and thankfully, we pressed it.

Portsmouth City - 491 J. Rowe (99) A. Nevatte (99) I. Cooper (99) G. Scruton (98) S. Hart (95) P. Upchurch (90) L. Haskett (96)

Wickham A - 483 R. Long (95) T. Malleson (97) T. Caister (98) S. Dismore (98) M. Barnes (93) J. Willsher (95)

A very strong showing from many of the team.  No tonnes, but those 99s are nothing to be sniffed at.  Our final match was against HMS Excellent and while our record against them is good, City had lost its last two away matches.

HMS Excellent A - 474 J. Atkins (97) T. Dugan (93) W. Dugan (96) I. Andrews (90) T. Thompson (93) E. Metcalfe (93) I. Thomson (95)

Portsmouth City - 487 G. Scruton (100) A. Nevatte (95) J. Rowe (100) I. Cooper (95) M. Simmons (92) R. Ashman (94) P. Upchurch (93) S. Hart (97)

So Portsmouth City finished the season on a high note!  Congratulations to G, Scruton and J. Rowe on their tonnes, especially to Jonny, for whom this was his first Portsmouth & District shoulder-to-shoulder ton!

So here were the overall stats for Portsmouth City's 2016-17 season:

9 wins, 5 losses (last season was 11 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses)

Team Average: 487.1 (last season was 486.7)
See all the results here.

Further results to come...

Railway put an end to City's winning streak!

The headline says it all really.  After four shoulder-to-shoulder matches coming away the victors, a less than stellar performance from City presented an opportunity for Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club that they seized and so not only has City suffered a defeat, but a home defeat.  Oh the shame!

Here were the scores:

Portsmouth City - 484 I. Cooper (97) S. Hart (98) L. Haskett (96) G. Scruton (97) A. Nevatte (95) R. Ashman (96) J. Rowe (96)

Portsmouth Railway - 485 J. Ring (96) M. Carter (94) K. Hardyman (97) C. Richards (99) N. Toms (95) N. Perman (96) C. Coles (97) D. Blake (92)

So by the very slightest of margins, Railway got the better of us.  Well done to them.  Our league team average slides down to 487.4 but with an away match against Wickham A (who are doing very well this season) on Monday, we've got to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and bring our A game for that match.

The Duttson and Elizabethan Cup Finals 2016

Last week, the team took part in two finals, a result of some great shooting over the course of the winter season.  The first meeting was for the Duttson Cup.

The 2016 Duttson Cup

On Tuesday, it was the semis and final for a competition that has been running since 1936.  Some of you may remember from last year that City once again reached the final and ultimately lost to Sarisbury (just like the year before).  This time round Sarisbury didn't reach the semis but unfortunately, that didn't end up being to City's benefit.  As there were only three teams in attendance (Chichester, Portsmouth Railway, and Portsmouth City) names were drawn from a hat and Chichester got direct entry to the final and it was left for the two Portsmouth teams to go up against each other in the semi-final.

City seems to face Railway quite a lot at these events - we were up against Railway in the semi-final of the Duttson last year, and this year we shot (and won) against Railway in the local Arthur Lee Cup final.  This is how it went this time.

Portsmouth City - 382 A. Nevatte (96) M. Nevatte (95) I. Cooper (98) G. Scruton (93)

Portsmouth Railway - 385 J. Ring (96) C. Coles (97) K. Hardyman (97) C. Richards (95)

So, this time City had to settle for getting to the semi-finals.  Here was the score for the finals:

Portsmouth Railway - 384 J. Ring (97) C. Coles (95) K. Hardyman (99) C. Richards (93)

Chichester - 385 K. Tulloch (96) C. Smith (98) R. Scholes (92) R. French (99)

So congratulations to Chichester and many thanks to Wayne Dugan and HMS Excellent Rifle Club for the use of their range.

The 2016 Elizabethan Cup

This Hampshire competition was slightly different in that the two teams, Portsmouth City A and Pinewood B shot on their own ranges at different times but both under the watchful eye of Sarisbury's Terry Gleed, who very kindly organises this competition each year.

The Elizabethan is a handicap competition, meaning that it is incumbent on the shooters to achieve a specific score (not 100) that is declared before they shoot.  It was a team of 6, shooting 2 cards each.  As we weren't shoulder-to-shoulder, we don't know Pinewood B's specific scores but here's how we shot:

Card 1 (594) A. Nevatte (h'cap 5) (gunscore 94) (score 99) J. Rowe (h'cap 8) (gunscore 91) (score 99) R. Ashman (h'cap 5) (gunscore 94) (score 99) I. Cooper (h'cap 5) (gunscore 96) (score 99) M. Nevatte (h'cap 5) (gunscore 96) (score 99) G. Scruton (h'cap 5) (gunscore 94) (score 99)

Card 2 (595) A. Nevatte (h'cap 5) (gunscore 93) (score 98) J. Rowe (h'cap 8) (gunscore 91) (score 99) R. Ashman (h'cap 5) (gunscore 94) (score 99) I. Cooper (h'cap 5) (gunscore 96) (score 99) M. Nevatte (h'cap 5) (gunscore 95) (score 100) G. Scruton (h'cap 5) (gunscore 95) (score 100)

So with these scores we were very happy to find out that we had done enough to secure the cup which we will be presented at the Hampshire prizegiving dinner next month.

Arthur Lee Cup 2016 (Local Final): City vs Railway

This evening was the local final of the Arthur Lee Cup.  Last year, we reached the local final but were narrowly beaten by Fareham.  This year we managed to get to the final once again but were up against Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club.  The match was kindly officiated by Wayne Dugan of HMS Excellent Rifle Club and was held at Havant.

This match is a little different from our normal shoulder-to-shoulder matches.  This was teams of 6 (instead of the usual 8), shooting 2 cards each (instead of 1), and unlike our other competitions, every team member's scores counted.  Here's how it went:

Portsmouth Railway - 1147 J. Ring (98, 97) M. Carter (93, 94) C. Richards (97, 97) C. Coles (97, 96) N. Perman (94, 93) K. Hardyman (94, 97)

Portsmouth City - 1163 M. Nevatte (98, 98) S. Hart (95, 100) G. Scruton (97, 94) I. Cooper (99, 95) A. Nevatte (94, 100) R. Ashman (96, 97)

So Portsmouth City goes on to represent Portsmouth & District this year against Sarisbury, who will represent Southampton & District.  Well done to Sarah Hart and Adam Nevatte for their tonnes.

PCRC is back on form! (2016 Matches, pt 2)

Following on from part 1 of the 2016 match update, here's how our three most recent matches have gone (Spoiler Alert!!! - it's better than part one).

Our away match against Chichester saw another solid yet unremarkable result from the Portsmouth City team (unfortunately pushing our average down every so slightly).

Chichester - 476 W. Williamson (90) K. Tulloch (96) J. Peart (91) C. Wade (94) S. Jenkins (94) N. Logan (97) S. Sadler (95) G. Hawker (81) Reserve N. Hayward (89)

Portsmouth City - 486 I. Cooper (94) S. Hart (97) L. Haskett (97) M. Nevatte (96) G. Scruton (98*) J. Rowe (96) A. Nevatte (98) P. Upchurch (93)

If you are wondering want the start next to G. Scruton's score means, it means that somebody (him) got a penalty point for being a right monkey and shooting twice on one target (see below).

The next match was against West Meon at home:

Portsmouth City - 487 M. Nevatte (99) A. Nevatte (97) I. Cooper (98) P. Upchurch (96) S. Hart (96) J. Rowe (95) R. Ashman (97)

West Meon - 475 G. Stone (92) P. Hannington (96) J. Dalton (99) R. King (92) A. Smith (92) D. Corbett (96) R. Amor (88)

So another convincing solid win and a positive score for our overall average.  From this, we moved on to our penultimate match...

Our most recent match was against Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club.  In this case it was just 7 of us and those that shot well, shot well, those that didn't, didn't.

Portsmouth Railway - 482 M. Carter (95) C. Richards (95) C. Coles (94) N. Perman (93) N. Toms (95) K. Hardyman (98) J. Ring (99) J. Stockham (95)

Portsmouth City - 488 I. Cooper (94) M. Nevatte (94) G. Scruton (98) A. Nevatte (99) S. Hart (98) J. Rowe (89) R. Ashman (99)

So we have one match still to go this season - Wickham at home, who came third last season so it will be important for us to get a convincing win next Thursday.  These are our current stats:

10 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses

Team Average: 486.5
See all the results here.

City vs Railway

Last night, the main Portsmouth City team faced off against fellow Portsmouth team, Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club, and it looks like City's moment is far from slowing!

Portsmouth City - 487 M. Nevatte (98) S. Hart (99) L. Haskett (94) I. Cooper (98) A. Nevatte (97) P. Upchurch (95) J. Rowe (95) R. Ashman (95)

Portsmouth Railway - 482 J. Ring (96) M. Carter (94) K. Hardyman (99) C. Richards (96) N. Toms (95) N. Perman (96) C. Coles (95)

This home match saw City score its third successive 487 and now has a team average of 485.  Portsmouth City's championship points are now in double figures (10) with 5 wins, no losses and no draws.  Still no possibles (perfect 100s) but we'll all get another chance to do that at our away match at Wickham on Monday. :-)

Well done to Portsmouth Railway for their very respectable scores and providing a relatively close match.

Fareham vs Portsmouth City (The Arthur Lee Local Final)

This Monday saw the local final of the Arthur Lee cup.  The winners of this match go on to face whichever club wins to represent Southampton & District League.  For the first time in quite a few years, Portsmouth City managed to reach the local final where we faced Fareham.  Just like the Duttson Final we shot on a neutral range, this time Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club kindly provided the use of their range and a big thanks go to John Ring for scoring the cards, and again to Wayne Dugan for running the event.

This competition was teams of 6, shooting 2 cards each.  Unlike a few of our other competitions, every team member's scores counted.  Here's how it went:

Fareham - 1158 J. Lacey (97, 96) D. Shepperd (96, 97) D. Spendlove (99, 99) P. Randall (98, 98) T. Read (96, 94) J. Hounsell (94, 94)

Portsmouth City - 1151 M. Nevatte (99, 97) S. Hart (97, 95) G. Scruton (99, 99) I. Cooper (96, 99) A. Nevatte (96, 94) P. Upchurch (90, 90)

So a close match but unfortunately Portsmouth City will not go on to represent Portsmouth & District this year against Southampton.  Well done to Fareham and we wish them good luck in the final.

The Duttson Cup final comes down to graduated gauging... against Sarisbury... again!

On Tuesday, members of the Portsmouth City squad took part in the semi-final and final of the Duttson Cup.  This particular cup dates back to 1936, when it was donated by William Noel Duttson, the then-president of Portsmouth & District Rifle League (and also director of Portsmouth Brewery on Admiralty Road).

William Noel Duttson (1935)

This year it was Fareham, Portsmouth Railway, Sarisbury and Portsmouth City through to the semi-finals and, as always, we had both the semis and the final on the same evening and all on a neutral range, the Tipner indoor range, kindly provided by the HMS Excellent Rifle Club.  By virtue of drawing names from a bag, PCRC first faced Portsmouth Railway.

Here's how the semi-finals went:

Portsmouth City - 389 I. Cooper (99) A. Nevatte (99) M. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (94)

Portsmouth Railway - 372 J. Nicholson (91) N. Toms (93) N. Perman (94) J. Stockham (94)

Fareham - 384 P. Randall (96) T. Read (97) D. Shepperd (95) D. Spendlove (96)

Sarisbury - 387 G. Barber (95) T. Gleed (96) M. Guille (98) P. Pearce (98)

This brought about the same final as we had last year: Portsmouth vs Sarisbury.  Last year it came down to graduated gauges; this is where the two teams' scores using standard gauges come out as the same - graduated gauges put the shots under a harsher spotlight and tell us who came closer to centre.

Portsmouth were the victors last year but would it be the case this year too?

Portsmouth City - 390 (.25G score - 384) I. Cooper (97) (96) A. Nevatte (99) (96) M. Nevatte (97) (95) G. Scruton (97) (97)

Sarisbury - 390 (.25G score - 389) G. Barber (98) (97) T. Gleed (95) (95) M. Guille (98) (98) P. Pearce (98) (98)

So, as with the Portsmouth & District shoulder-to-shoulder league this year, Portsmouth had to settle for second place to Sarisbury.  Well done, Sarisbury.

The Duttson Cup has taken pride of place on our trophy shelves in the last few years and we'll be sorry to see it leave us... but we'll get it back next year!

Current 1946 Duttson Cup Trophy replacing the 1936 trophy presumed lost during the war

Overall Portsmouth City hasn't done too badly in this competition, in fact we were the first ever winners of it!

Inaugural Winners of the Duttson Cup (1936).  The captain, H. E. G. Abrams is sitting; standing left to right is L. G. German, H. V. Young, and E. S. German.

1936 - Portsmouth City

1937 - HMS Victory

1938 - HMS Excellent

Suspended during World War II (1939-1945)

1946 - Portsmouth City Police

1947 - Civil Defence

1949 - Portsmouth City

1950 - Portsmouth City

1951 - Havant

1952 - Portsmouth City

1953 - Portsmouth City

1954 - Portsmouth City

1955 - Portsmouth City

1956 - Portsmouth City

1957 - Portsmouth City

1958 - Portsmouth North End

No Competition (1959)

1960 - Portsmouth City "B"

1961 - Portsmouth City

1962 - Royal Marines "B"

1963 - HMS Collingwood

1964 - Portsmouth City

1965 - Portsmouth City

1966 - Portsmouth City

1967 - Portsmouth City

1968 - Portsmouth City

1969 - Royal Marines

1970 - Fareham

1971 - HMS Excellent

1972 - Havant

1973 - Havant

1974 - Havant

1975 - HMS Excellent

1976 - Havant

1977 - Havant

1978 - Havant

1979 - Havant

1980 - Havant

1981 - HMS Nelson

1982 - HMS Nelson

1983 - HMS Nelson

1984 - HMS Nelson

1985 - HMS Nelson

1986 - HMS Nelson

1987 - HMS Nelson

No Competition (1988-1991)

1992 - Portsmouth City

1993 - Portsmouth City

1994 - HMS Excellent

1995 - HMS Nelson

1996 - Chichester

1997 - Sarisbury

No Competition (1998)

1999 - Havant

2000 - Sarisbury

2001 - HMS Excellent

2002 - Portsmouth Railway

2003 - Havant

2004 - HMS Excellent

2005 - Sarisbury

2006 - Havant

2007 - Sarisbury

2008 - Havant

2009 - Havant

2010 - Havant

2011 - Sarisbury

2012 - Portsmouth City

2013 - Portsmouth City

2014 - Portsmouth City

2015 - Sarisbury

For those of your keeping a tally, PCRC (21 wins), Havant (15), HMS Nelson (8), HMS Excellent (6), Sarisbury (6), Royal Marines (2), Chichester (1), Civil Defence (1), Fareham (1), HMS Victory (1), HMS Collingwood (1), North End (1), Police (1)

Portsmouth City victorious again!

Tonight saw a relatively local away match for the Portsmouth City team as we faced our Pompey cousins, Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club.  A fun evening was had by all but this didn't necessarily translate to the best scores for either team.  Nonetheless, PCRC managed to come away with another victory.

This was, in fact, a distinctive victory as the the team now has 18 points in the top division of the Portsmouth & District league, which is 2 points better than PCRC has achieved in the last two seasons (2012-13, 2013-14). 

Here were the scores:

Portsmouth Railway - 473 J. Ring (98) J. Stockham (94) C. Coles (97) N. Perman (91) K. Hardyman (92) N. Toms (92) D. Bednall (85)

Portsmouth City - 484 S. Hart (97) L. Haskett (88) I. Cooper (96) M. Nevatte (97) A. Nevatte (97) G. Scruton (97) P. Upchurch (93) J. Rowe (94) Reserve D. Reeves (83)

We now have a couple of home matches to look forward to in the coming weeks, at Chichester and Havant, before we finish the 2014/15 season on March 3rd shooting away at West Meon.

City vs Railway: The Rematch... of sorts

Last week, Portsmouth City Rifle Club were victorious in a match against Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club for the first round of the Arthur Lee Cup.  This evening, we hosted Railway again, this time competing against each other in Division 1 of the Portsmouth & District league.

While the Arthur Lee match gave each shooter two cards to show their mettle, tonight's match provided only one opportunity for shooters to prove their worth.

This is how the match went:

Portsmouth City - 487 G. Scruton (97) M. Nevatte (97) A. Nevatte (98) P. Upchurch (97) S. Hart (98) L. Haskett (91) I. Cooper (97) R. Ashman (97) Reserve J. Rowe (92)

Portsmouth Railway - 482 J. Ring (98) M. Carter (94) K. Hardyman (95) C. Richard (97) N. Toms (93) J. Stockham (93) C. Coles (98) D. Bednall (91)

So while both teams improved nicely on their performances last week, PCRC managed to edge ahead and equal their best team score of the season so far!

The sharp-eyed among you may notice that five of our shooters scored a 97 yet two had to be counted out.  This was decided by looking at who took out the most spots.  The picture below shows two shots, both of them are in and scored the maximum of 10.  However, the shot on the left took out the spot whereas on the right, the spot in the centre is clearly still there.

1st Round of the 2014/15 Arthur Lee Cup

Last night saw the first round of this year's Arthur Lee Cup being shot at home against Portsmouth Railway Rifle Club.  The shoulder-to-shoulder match was different to our usual efforts in that the teams of six (as opposed to eight) had to shoot two cards each (as opposed to just one card).

The home team (PCRC) managed to achieve a victory.  While neither team was on particularly good form last night, there were a few examples of good marksmanship.

Portsmouth City - 1153 L. Haskett (93, 90) S. Hart (99, 100) P. Upchurch (96, 94) A. Nevatte (97, 99) G. Scruton (94, 99) M. Nevatte (97, 95)

Portsmouth Railway - 1139 J. Ring (96, 96) C. Coles (94, 97) C. Richards (97, 92) M. Carter (96, 91) J. Stockham (95, 96) K. Hardyman (94, 95)

Special congratulations go to Sarah Hart for following up her 99 with a possible.

Next week we resume our normal match schedule and enjoy another home match with... Portsmouth Railway, again!  See you guys soon!