MONDAY 8^th DECEMBER 2008

PREMIERE A

AWAY

WOOLPACK

Recent form has been good and we hoped that would continue with this tricky fixture away to the Woolpack. Well things got off to the worst start possible where despite the best efforts of Ian and Mike, we were only able to muster seven players. Being one frame down before we even started meant that it was essential we took our chances when they came our way. Unfortunately three players will probably be kicking themselves this morning.

The first give away was from Mike. Having cleared well he was faced with a simple black to corner but caught a bad case of blackitous and missed by some margin. Mike never got another shot.

The second give away was Trevor. He was faced with a 50 / 50 call on whether to cover the pocket or play a full blooded pot at pace, with the cue ball freeing his last yellow from the black. See below. Opting for the latter, part two of the shot worked perfectly with the difficult yellow being moved into a potable position. Unfortunately the first yellow jawed and came out. Like Mike before Trevor did not get another chance. Perhaps the cover shot was the correct percentage shot?

The final give away frame was Craig and Ians doubles. Craig was faced with a simple pot to the middle with a couple of options for position on the black. A lot of players would have stunned / screwed back to position A, given that it has a bigger target area to land in. Craig opted to run the cue ball through to position B, a tougher shot however one that he would normally make. Unfortunately this time the pace of the table beat him and the cue ball went on to position C. Craig then missed the shot to the opposite middle and like Mike and Trevor before, the opposition cleared.

At the start of the night, knowing we were a player down, we might be forgiven in thinking a 6 – 5 loss was not necessarily a bad result. However, given the three frames above, we will be gutted we did not win the match. These are the type of frames we must win if we are to make any kind of challenge for the title or runners up spot in any given season.

The five frames won were Andy, Ian Pete and Craig in the singles, with Trevor and Andy winning the only doubles courtesy of the opponents in off the black.

Hopefully next week we can get things back on track with a win at home against the Black Bull A.

FINAL SCORE

WOOLPACK 6- 5 TULIP ‘C’