Redhill League 22/23 Week 15 - 07/02/2023

[tommo III]

Fixtures for 07/02/23:

Nomads 2 Old Oak 3
Horley CC 2 Salfords A 3
Salfords B 4 Reigate Ex 1
Jolly Bricks 1 MVC B 4
SPCC A 3 Salfords Y 2
MVC A 1 SPCC B 4

[billiardsmichael]

Nomads	2	v	3	Old Oak
Jemima	1870	-	770	*Nick
Abbey*	1810	-	3780	Paul
Michael	1530	-	2870	*Charlie
JP*	4380	-	2330	Clive
Will*	1520	-	1960	Martin

First up tonight was Jemima and Nick. As Clive remarked, he didn't know which Jemima would turn up tonight, and I'll forgive you for thinking it was the terrible version given her score. However it was merely the silly version as Jemima racked up 6k through a series of heart-stopping shots flying off the rims, and despite several glares from her captain, Jemima carried on - playing a terrible 100 split and leaving the white right behind the 10. To her credit she got plenty of side on the white to try and touch it, but it was in fact too much as the cue ball rimmed the 10 and flew away... rather in keeping with the chaotic nature of the break. This left Jemima a few hundred behind but with the bar nearing she got the break back and played it out to get a deserved - although crazy - victory. 1-0.

Next up the weekend wonder Abbey played Paul. Despite a decent start where the scores were kept tight, Paul managed to get the break back twice, and his contributions of 1k on each time were enough to pull away and level up the match. 1-1.

Third on, Charlie did well to accumulate and not lose any scores including 990 to start. Michael did all he could to get the balls back - but it just wasn't happening. Tommo can no doubt comment on whether that was due to poor judgement or luck. All he can say is when you finish your break, just put the ball up and walk away. Don't grandstand for 10 seconds then reach for the ball. Rabbit of extremely negative euphoria. 1-2.

Despite captain Michael putting on his best impression of Mr. Grumpy, JP put on a fine display reminiscent of his early season form. He surged into a lead of 2k and it wasn't until 12 mins in that Clive got the break back. He closed the gap to just less than 1k but broke down. JP was next to get the balls back and he added a lovely 1.3k and touch to put the game beyond Tommo's reach, despite a lovely clear to get the balls back immediately. 2-2.

So, the decider. Will is a newbie to the Nomads team this season and his practice form was encouraging. He's regularly getting the break now and was playing the back of the table well. It still seemed a tough ask for him to take on Martin though, a seasoned pro when it comes to the crunch matches. It was Will, however who made the early running. 460 from his break (the one-up gloriously slipping past both the 50 and white peg to drop in the 10) and then a lovely 660 made just from the back of the table showed he was bringing his practice form to the fore. Martin struggled to get the break back - despite lots of very good attempts - and it looked like Will may hang on for a first league win of the year. Sadly for him, though, Martin got the break back in the knick of time and despite pushing the red past the 50, his break was enough to lead by 250. So it was down to the last few balls and Martin made no mistake of clearing them once the bar had gone. Will can be happy with his progress, pushing Martin all the way. He'll chalk up that first league win soon. 2-3.

[tommo III]

An entertaining match and all fair comment in captain Michael's writeup.
Gamesmanship on both sides, our "show-boater" cancelled out by the home side providing a resident Tranny as a diversion !



Here is the photo I took tonight of the Nomads who excelled at Northampton at the weekend.