The last week of the League saw just the A Team in action facing Marlborough B away, whilst the B Team sat & waited for results of the Abingdon Con A v Challow B match to see whether they would be Division 1 Champions or Runners Up!
At Marlborough, Captain (& the new District Singles Champion!) start proceedings v Darren Clark. Playing on the first table, which is a notorious 'leveller' as it is quite fast paced cloth but unforgiving pockets, it was a cagey nip & tuck affair. Captain eventually won 63-35 to put the A Team 1-0 & 1 frame from securing the Runner Up spot in the Premier Division!
Appropriate then that it was Nigel (VC & our top percentage player this season... so far! Keep it there VC 'cos The Pot Hunter 'Hawkinator' is on your tail!) who 'got the glory leg' on his old 'home' table! He faced M Burton & was slotting in some lovely pots (almost as if he'd never been away! 'Prior' knowledge methinks!). Nigel won convincingly by 51-15 which made it 2-0 & levelled us on points with Wantage (although we had better results against them so would've taken 2nd on that alone!).
The 3rd frame saw Tom (newly crowned District Novices Champion!) face Steve Wetherall. Steve was playing well on his home table, but Tom continued his good form from the evening before (when he despatched Aaron Tame in the Novices Final 3-1, after going 0-1 down), potted well & played good safety to win by 61-23 to put the A Team 3-0 up & make the Runners Up emphatically ours on points!
In his usual 4th position was Kev 'Cuz' who faced C Freeman. Cuz had also been playing well & had been slotting in some nice breaks in practice. He also carried on this good form with high scoring & recorded another convincing win by 53-6! 4-0 to the A Team & just reigning Over 50s Champion to go!
Dave 'Anchorman' was on last v Craig Harper. Dave had missed last weeks Cup encounter through illness & desperately wanting to get back to match fitness for the defence of his Over 50s Title (he plays Ian 'Sid' Barnes on Tuesday 2nd April at Harwell RBL). He was certainly up against it as Craig slotted in some lovely pots (whilst the rest of the Team were hanging out of the window admiring Craig's retirement present to himself... an Aston Martin DB9!!!). It was not to be for Dave as Craig cleared the last few colours to salvage some pride for Marlborough as he ran out winner by 63-33 to make the final score 4-1.
Cuz had joked earlier in the evening about being in the presence of 'Greatness' (I think that was what he said... as opposed to 'in the presence of Greathead'!), having 3 District League Individual Champions in the A Team (Dave being reigning Over 50s Champ & now joined by Tom winning the Novices & Captain winning the Singles). I'm fairly certain this is unprecedented (I'm pretty sure that the Wallingford Comrades have never done that many individual titles in the same year before!?) & a great testament to the Team & respective individuals.
So the A Team attained enough points to overtake Wantage A & secure Runners Up in the Premier Division. In the end, some 9 points behind Abingdon Con A (who won the Premier Division with an immaculate undefeated League season! Congratulations... we'll be back to give you a fight for it again next year!).
And whilst we're on the subject of Abingdon Con A, they needed to beat Challow B by a 'full house' 5-0 to 'help' the B Team to the 1st Division Title. Unfortunately it was not to be as their Captain, Dave Lewis lost... on a re-spotted black(!) & Jamie lost his frame, also on the black... going 'in off' (I know how that feels!!!). Final score was Abingdon Con A 3, Challow B 2, & the 2 points being enough for Challow to capture the 1st Division Title & confirm Wallingford B as Runners Up for the 2nd year in succession! That's still a fabulous achievement & topped off nicely with 'new boy' Dave 'Club Singles Champion' Rowe sharing the 1st Division High Break with Paul Finch (Challow B) with a respectable 32.
So, the League has finished & just two Cup Final matches left. The A Team look to successfully defend their John Evans Title & will face serious opposition from the newly crowned Premiership Champions Abingdon Con A, who will undoubtedly be looking for revenge for us putting them out of the Jim Taylor & inflicting their only defeat of the season (so far!)! The A Team will also contest the Jim Taylor Final & will again face stiff competition from the newly crowned 3rd Division Champions (they romped it, finishing ABOVE the top 2nd Division side!), Challow C!
No competitive match next week, but the A & B will have a 'friendly' knock before the John Evans Final on 10th April & the Jim Taylor a week later on 17th.
At Marlborough, Captain (& the new District Singles Champion!) start proceedings v Darren Clark. Playing on the first table, which is a notorious 'leveller' as it is quite fast paced cloth but unforgiving pockets, it was a cagey nip & tuck affair. Captain eventually won 63-35 to put the A Team 1-0 & 1 frame from securing the Runner Up spot in the Premier Division!
Appropriate then that it was Nigel (VC & our top percentage player this season... so far! Keep it there VC 'cos The Pot Hunter 'Hawkinator' is on your tail!) who 'got the glory leg' on his old 'home' table! He faced M Burton & was slotting in some lovely pots (almost as if he'd never been away! 'Prior' knowledge methinks!). Nigel won convincingly by 51-15 which made it 2-0 & levelled us on points with Wantage (although we had better results against them so would've taken 2nd on that alone!).
The 3rd frame saw Tom (newly crowned District Novices Champion!) face Steve Wetherall. Steve was playing well on his home table, but Tom continued his good form from the evening before (when he despatched Aaron Tame in the Novices Final 3-1, after going 0-1 down), potted well & played good safety to win by 61-23 to put the A Team 3-0 up & make the Runners Up emphatically ours on points!
In his usual 4th position was Kev 'Cuz' who faced C Freeman. Cuz had also been playing well & had been slotting in some nice breaks in practice. He also carried on this good form with high scoring & recorded another convincing win by 53-6! 4-0 to the A Team & just reigning Over 50s Champion to go!
Dave 'Anchorman' was on last v Craig Harper. Dave had missed last weeks Cup encounter through illness & desperately wanting to get back to match fitness for the defence of his Over 50s Title (he plays Ian 'Sid' Barnes on Tuesday 2nd April at Harwell RBL). He was certainly up against it as Craig slotted in some lovely pots (whilst the rest of the Team were hanging out of the window admiring Craig's retirement present to himself... an Aston Martin DB9!!!). It was not to be for Dave as Craig cleared the last few colours to salvage some pride for Marlborough as he ran out winner by 63-33 to make the final score 4-1.
Cuz had joked earlier in the evening about being in the presence of 'Greatness' (I think that was what he said... as opposed to 'in the presence of Greathead'!), having 3 District League Individual Champions in the A Team (Dave being reigning Over 50s Champ & now joined by Tom winning the Novices & Captain winning the Singles). I'm fairly certain this is unprecedented (I'm pretty sure that the Wallingford Comrades have never done that many individual titles in the same year before!?) & a great testament to the Team & respective individuals.
So the A Team attained enough points to overtake Wantage A & secure Runners Up in the Premier Division. In the end, some 9 points behind Abingdon Con A (who won the Premier Division with an immaculate undefeated League season! Congratulations... we'll be back to give you a fight for it again next year!).
And whilst we're on the subject of Abingdon Con A, they needed to beat Challow B by a 'full house' 5-0 to 'help' the B Team to the 1st Division Title. Unfortunately it was not to be as their Captain, Dave Lewis lost... on a re-spotted black(!) & Jamie lost his frame, also on the black... going 'in off' (I know how that feels!!!). Final score was Abingdon Con A 3, Challow B 2, & the 2 points being enough for Challow to capture the 1st Division Title & confirm Wallingford B as Runners Up for the 2nd year in succession! That's still a fabulous achievement & topped off nicely with 'new boy' Dave 'Club Singles Champion' Rowe sharing the 1st Division High Break with Paul Finch (Challow B) with a respectable 32.
So, the League has finished & just two Cup Final matches left. The A Team look to successfully defend their John Evans Title & will face serious opposition from the newly crowned Premiership Champions Abingdon Con A, who will undoubtedly be looking for revenge for us putting them out of the Jim Taylor & inflicting their only defeat of the season (so far!)! The A Team will also contest the Jim Taylor Final & will again face stiff competition from the newly crowned 3rd Division Champions (they romped it, finishing ABOVE the top 2nd Division side!), Challow C!
No competitive match next week, but the A & B will have a 'friendly' knock before the John Evans Final on 10th April & the Jim Taylor a week later on 17th.
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