Fixtures week 15 2nd March 2023

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Henty	5	0	Tarring Club
The Vine	3	2	Blue Anchor
Prince of Wales	2	3	Stags Head B
Stags Head A	4	1	Alexandra A
Alexandra B			Bye

Stags Head A v Alexandra A rearranged for 16th March 2023.

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This weeks fixtures 2 games postponed.

[SirKT]

Henty v Tarring Club also postponed

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" The match to be played on or before the next free available date."

Above is the relevant part of rule L11 if a game is postponed please all try to rearrange soonest as last league games are 30th March 2023 thank you.

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The Vine 3 - 2 Blue Anchor

Paul Barnett	0	4350	Paul Moyes Robb *
Neil Higgins	5200	1140	Chris Lucas *
Ros Appleby	2690	2580	Andy Farmer Wright *
Gary Ridley	2460	6830	Dave Jones *
Tony Burgess	1880	470	Alan Mepham *

The pub closed at 10pm and the home team were not made aware of this and the timer played up during the 1st 2 games, in the last Alan was 2k up with 5 minutes to got but black pegged

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Stags Head A 4 - 1 Alexandra A

Martin Smith 5130 - 3980 Rick Cunningham *
Dave Ingram 10280 -1670 Michael Wilson *
Geoff Jukes 8100- 3960 Pete Hickman *
Ian Lelliott 10320- 2100 James Whittle *
Jim Millward 280- 15730 Tony Jenner *

Rick going well but at nearly 6k left white short of the 100 on the split, positive shot trying to continue the break but the cue ball went left and took the peg. Rick first to get them back and off at 3800, Martin eventually getting the balls back and ran in 5k and touch after the bar had gone to pinch the leg.

Michael lost his opening break in a similar fashion to Rick. Dave balls back and made no mistake touching up with 10020 break.

Pete off early but Geoff unable to get the balls back. Pete did but off at 2.5k, Geoff did get them back and touched on 7910 with the game safe.

James off at 1.7k, Ian first to get them back 4.5k break and then 4k break to make sure.

TJ going well at 4k+ but played an awful shot to come off but kept his score, with Jim getting no luck at the top of the table TJ first to get them back, caught split thick at 2k+ and luckily came to rest just short of the peg leaving Jim an awkward clear, which he managed to clear and sink a ball but from there Jim`s bad luck continued and with 12 minutes gone TJ was on break number 3, this time made sure playing the rest of the time out with 8670 break.

Good evening as usual with the Stags A who took the chances presented to them on the night.

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Prince of Wales v Stags Head B arranged to be played on Tuesday 28th March 2023. Thank you for the effort from both teams to get this sorted and played

Just Henty v Tarring Club to be rearranged now, this match could have an affect on division one bottom two places.

["Silent"]

Prince of Wales 2-3 Stags Head B (match played 28/03/2023)

Well, after lots of toing and froing we finally managed to get this extremely significant match played, and before the last round of fixtures. It was a quite incredible match with lots of incident, I will try and do it justice but it might be tricky

**Daniel Wheal 4730 - 7610 Jean Brackenridge - we were not sure Dan would be able to play, indeed until the last minute the visitors did not think he would be there. Never looking comfortable he was off early, Jean has had very few opportunities on the Prince top but always looks pretty comfortable when she does get a chance, no exception today as she was first to get them back and made a very good 5520 break. Dan moved a few balls, ending with the last a good distance behind the 50 hole, he pretty much went straight at, fortune favoured the brave (and the lucky) as he wobbled the left hand peg, it somehow stayed up and balls back. I could quite imagine Jim Millward's face at this point, especially after the Watney Mann final! Anyhow, I (and Jean) thought that was that, but Dan left a split short, bang in front of the 100 and was off next shot still behind Jean's score. Needing no second invitation Jean made another 2k and touch to give us an early lead

Chris Cox 2030 - 6530 Nigel Senior** - Nigel and this table really don't get on, extraordinary start as a massive kick on Nige's very first shot left the balls nowhere, incredible stuff! Chris cleared them very well, but then, like Dan did not look particulary comfortable. He missed a pretty improbable split going for the 100 and was off soon after. There were plenty of attempts to get them back before Nigel was first to do so. He made an extremely ropey 5230 break with about 50% "success rate" on the split, somehow staying on when looking like coming off on a number of occasions. Chris still had half a chance but it wasn't to be and we were in the driving seat

Martin Cole 320 - 8840 Phil Osborne** - Not as many words for this one, as it had less incident. Phil was off early going for his favoured 10 split which this table doesn't like! Martin failed to get them back, Phil did and that was that with a superb 7940 break and touch from the Oz to give us an assailable lead

**Barry Holt 9210 - 4400 Chris Tupper - the incident in this one was off the table rather than on it. On the table Barry also missed unexpectedly on 4k, balls left pretty awkward, Tupps a couple of great shots but could not quite manage a third and was off. Baz played a great shot himself to get them back and made another 4k and touch, at one point he did play an even "greater" shot, missing the split so thick that the red ball ended up in the 100!! Tupps made it look easy with a 4k break to the bar. Off the table Barry dropped his cue which hit Tupps and then Chris Cox the scorer added to the antics by dropping his phone right next to where Tupps was playing, terrible attempts to put Tupps off guys

Joe Oakley 3150 - 890 Matthew Knight** - Now you know looking at the scores that there was more drama in this one....Knight extremely ropey to about 2k, could have come off virtually every shot and fortunate not to do so, then, cruised to 8k before the bad splits of earlier resurfaced. I really should have touched up but felt Joe could still catch, ended with a ball behind the right hand 20. Thought it rolled left but actually rolled right so missed it altogether I messed up another opportunity, Joe did not mess his up a "steady" 3k giving the hosts the last 2 legs, and still a chance of winning the title. Joe would not let me buy him a drink, so I think that tells you all you need to know


So a 3-2 win for the current champions, we might be losing our crown but we are very proud of our efforts this season especially competing alongside 3 extremely strong teams. We are also very proud of our performance tonight, upholding the integrity of the Worthing League and being (at the time of writing) the only team to win at the Prince of Wales this season

Both teams knew it would be a hard fought encounter and so it proved, however that did not stop the friendly banter and interesting discussion afterwards. It goes without saying the company was excellent as always

The final match of the season between the Prince of Wales and the Stags Head A will decide the Premier Division title, after this result it is firmly in the hands of the Stag A but you never know. We wish both teams good luck, it should be a cracker

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Thank you to both teams for getting the match played and as Matt says we are set yet again for a last game decider in the Worthing League. Looking how close the Brighton league is as well and some of the other great games played around the county this season the strength of Sussex bar billiards is in a good place, lets hope all current leagues survive to play again next season.

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Rearranged game Henty v Tarring Club tommorrow

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Henty 5 - 0 Tarring Club

Terry Molloy 9530 – 4000 Matt Jones *
Stuart Carruthers 6170 – 2530 Mike Formoy *
Kevin Tunstall 6830 – 2030 Dave Collins *
Stuart Mepham 6790 – 2050 Bepo *
Terry Molloy 7330 – 0 Tony Collins *

Terry played twice 4 player rule