This week saw just the A Team in action in their penultimate match of the season & last 'home' fixture, facing their old adversaries Abingdon RBL.
Captain Pete was on first v Phil Skinner. Now Phil has completely deconstructed his game recently & rebuilt it with a very methodical approach to stance, targeting & cueing. Fair play to him as it's not easy to do that when 'mature in years', to put it politely! Captain realised when the black was surrounded by 6 reds that it would be a long frame & the frame time was some 45 minutes! Phil kept the scores 'honest' & was in front towards the end until he missed a crucial black with 1 red left. Captain slotted in the red & 'doubled' the black & took a nice long yellow, eventually winning by 61-34 to put the A Team 1-0 up!
Next up was Nigel 'VC' v Paul Archer. Nigel started in typical determined fashion & pulled an early lead playing his trademark confidence potting & solid safety. He looked in control throughout & it seemed a formality that the top percentage player would round out with another win. He even had a little 'rub of the green' towards the end of the reds, but Paul dug in & laid a tricky little snooker on the brown behind the pink. It was one of those shots that wasn't difficult to hit, but dead easy to leave on. Nigel hit it medium strength so as not to leave an easy pot on the brown, but Paul ended the frame by clearing up with a quality 22 break to nick the win on the black by 41-49 & 1-1. Nigel was obviously disappointed to 'dip' only his 3rd frame in 19 appearances (we'd all love that stat VC!), but it was to be a contributing factor in what turned out to be a real cliff hanger of a match later on!
In his usual starting place of 3rd, Tom faced Doug Young. Tom was in no mood to take any prisoners & raced off to a healthy lead, albeit aided by some fortuitous 'run'. Sometimes you just have to 'go with it' & Tom capitalised, slotting in some lovely clean pots & rounded out winner by 52-11 to put the A Team back in the lead 2-1! Methinks he will be a force to be reckoned with in BOTH his Finals & the team congratulate him on reaching those (Novices & Singles Final in his first year of competition in the D&DS&BL! What an achievement!).
After a short supper break of the now legendary Oz's chilli, Kev 'Cuz' went on to face Paul's brother Nigel Archer. In what was to be a similar patterned frame to his brother, Nigel was on the back foot throughout the start. Cuz was walking round the table between shots with such purpose & determination, that we all thought he would take the 'glory leg'. Then his dreaded 'bad run' raised it's ugly head & it can sadly have a profound effect on a players confidence. It was to be the determining factor as Nigel cleared up with a quality 18 break to again nick the frame on the black, 45-56 to level the frame scores at 2-2!
So, Dave 'Anchorman' to face Harvey Pearce in the deciding frame! Now Dave has pushed on with his game in the last half of the season & it is again testament to his determination, longevity & love of the game! He started in determined fashion & pulled a lead. Harvey was under pressure to respond, but simply couldn't as Dave pounced on every mistake, potting some nice 'openers' & following them up with some lovely 'touch' positional play (not something he's previously been known for, but an aspect that he's worked hard at & is now paying dividends!). In the end it was a bit of a rout, Harvey needing snookers before the colours as Dave won convincingly, 55-20 to give the A Team a 3-2 win.
With the A Team's nearest rivals Wantage getting a 'full house 5' in their last macth of the season, the A Team must now go to Marlborough on 27th March & get a minimum of 2 points to get Runners Up! Abingdon Con A have already secured taking 'our' premier title this year, being some 10 points ahead with 1 match each remaining.
With the B Team sitting out their 1st week of 2 byes, they were rewarded with the Wantage Comrades 'full house 5' being against Challow B... on Challow's own home table!!! This leaves the B Team & Challow B BOTH level on 37 points at the top of the 1st Division!
Elsewhere, with Fairmile taking 4 points off the visiting Fawley & Challow B having 1 more League fixture, this now means that the very worst the B Team can do is retain their Runners Up title from last season... unless Challow B fail to take a point in their last match...which is AT Abingdon Con A!!!
More frantic nail chewing from the B Team on 27th March then!
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