Redhill League 23/24 - Week 13 - 09/01/2024

[billiardsmichael]

Week 13		-		09/01/2024
Salfords Y	3	v	2	South Park CC B
Merstham VC B	5	v	0	Horley CC
Jolly Brickmakers	2	v	3	Salfords A
Salfords B	3	v	2	Nomads
Old Oak	3	v	2	Merstham VC A
South Park CC A		v		BYE

[tommo III]

Old Oak 3, MVC A 2
Clive 4070, *Benny 790
Paul 3550, *Chris 2600
Rebecca 780, *Neil 1810
*Charlie 2180, Jeff 1960
Nick 830, *Colin 2320

Fortress Oak not breached tonight despite having only one break, and being without our influential captain whose job was shared out between Rebecca (documentation), yours truly (table preparation) and Nick (draw, submission of card etc).
Poor Martin in hospital and awaiting an op so we wish him well and a full and prompt recovery.

The fourth frame proved crucial, Jeff right at the end pulling back Charlie's 1.5k lead to within 120. Both players then had 7 or 8 shots each at either the 100 or 200 before Charlie finally put it away.

Apologies to the visitors for the cold pub and absence of catering. We'll bring out the fatted calf if we play them again.
Scores to follow.

[billiardsmichael]

Salfords B	3	v	2	Nomads
Tom	540	-	3770	*Max
Caroline	3830	-	2120	*Abbey
Mark*	1920	-	10210	Michael
Liam*	4930	-	3380	Dave
DJ	6390	-	4790	*Jim

A battle of last years promoted due took place at the Salfords club as the table-topping Nomads (not for much longer though) looked to replicate last years 4-1 victory.

Opening up was captain Tom against Max. The U30s champ had the break but couldn't make use of it, coming off at just 600, but Captain Tom was in a familiarly charitable mood. Max was affords a couple of chances at getting the balls back and at the second attempt he cleared up and added 2.7k, only to miscue a ball in a way that only Taom chalk allows. Thankfully for flirty wirty, Tom hadn't finished in his donations and Max cleared up to add 3k (and kept) for the opener. 0-1

Next up Caroline took centre stage, but she was under immediate pressure from Abbey who opened up with a k before a miscue (and keep) put her ahead. Caroline was serene in her response though, a cool 2.7k to take the lead and from there it was plain sailing as neither player could get the balls back, despite some magnificent shots into the 100 hole from both players! 1-1

So with the game level Mark took on Michael and young Mark opened up well. An excellent 1.5k break to start but the Nomads captain was in decent fettle, 6.5k and touch the response. After a couple of goes each Michael cleared the balls again, reaching the five-figure mark then touching to put the Nomads in control of the tie... 1-2

The fourth game of the night started similarly to the one before, Liam made a composed 1.5k before seeming to get caught between playing the 10 and 100 split. Dave, though, was having one of those nights where the balls just wouldn't drop for love nor money and Liam showed excellent composure to get the break back two further times, adding 1k and 1.5k to open up a 4k gap. With four minutes to go, Dave's balls finally dropped and he had just enough time to catch up. The break can be a bit of a cruel mistress though, a touch thick and the red will take an age to drop, and so that proved to be the case here, Dave struggling to adapt to get the red clean and coming off just before the bar fell. An excellent win for Liam - his biggest scalp to date? 2-2

So here came the decider and there was potential for quite a ding-dong to take place. The current leaders in Div A POY, Dave Jones, and Div B POY, Jim Balchin, faced off with Jim getting first crack. Sadly for Jim he'd clearly not let Jemima out for a run around before the game, as she burst out of the box on the opening one-up to leave it nestled on the side cushion. The pirate (Davey Jones) was in his usual merciless mood, two shots and the break back and the question was how many could he rack up. It turned out the seven seas were too daunting, Dave coming off having pushed the red long on the break, so just the six seas (k) were covered. Jim knew he could turn the tides with time on his side, and he went about racking up a score, he was a little behind pace, but it was still on when he left the one-up short again on 3.5k, just 2k off target with 2 minutes left to go. With that Dave won the final peg leg to guide the good ship Salfords across the winning line. 3-2

So a fun evening of bar billiards with Liam starring and giving his Pirate father the opportunity to finish the match off, the Nomads have not found their gear since November and despite reaching the tables summit once again, they know they won't be there for much longer.

[magners]

MVC B 5 v Horley CC 0
Tony beat Josh - Tony's second break making sure of the leg
Bud beat Roland - Not Roland's night, but Bud continues his impressive return
Gary beat Nev - Only made sure of the victory late on
Colin beat Chris - Another scrappy leg, with Colin making sure in the last 5 minutes
Geoff beat Alex - Again Geoff needed 2 breaks to win
A good night with the Horley boys and a fine supper from Karl.
Wishing Martin (Old Oak) a speedy recovery from his operation.