Redhill League 23/24 - Week 22 - 23/04/2024

[billiardsmichael]

Week 22		-		23/04/2024
Merstham VC B	4	v	1	Salfords Y
Jolly Brickmakers	2	v	3	South Park CC B
Salfords B	4	v	1	Horley CC
Old Oak	3	v	2	Salfords A
South Park CC A	4	v	1	Nomads
BYE		-		Merstham VC A

[billiardsmichael]

Last game of the league season tonight - Division A is all sewn up but the Division B title is very much in the balance, three teams could still take home the title: MVC A, Old Oak, Horley CC.

TEAMS	Div	PL	H	A	MW	PTS	Total Score
Merstham Village Club B	A	19	34.0	37.0	17	71	535,620
South Park CC A	A	19	29.0	33.5	14	62.5	472,910
South Park CC B	A	19	31.0	27.0	12	58	485,249
Salfords Club Y	A	19	33.0	23.0	12	56	321,640
Nomads	A	19	30.0	25.0	13	55	371,040
Salfords Club B	A	19	24.5	21.0	9	45.5	354,320
MVC A	B	20	26.0	16.0	7	42	243,830
Old Oak	B	19	22.0	18.0	8	40	241,280
Horley CC	B	19	21.0	18.0	6	39	253,220
Jolly Brickmakers	B	19	19.0	15.0	6	34	179,470
Salfords Club A	B	19	12.0	10.0	1	22	162,200

Here are the possible title winning combinations...

Old Oak	Horley CC	Div B Winners
4-1/5-0	-	Old Oak
3-2	NOT 5-0	Old Oak
3-2	5-0	Horley CC
2-3	NOT 4-1/5-0	Old Oak
2-3	4-1/5-0	Horley CC
1-4/0-5	3-2/4-1/5-0	Horley CC
1-4/0-5	2-3/1-4/0-5	Merstham VC A

[tommo III]

...........and South Park CC B will be looking to the Nomads to do them a favour by denying the A's the one point they need for runners-up !!!

[tommo III]

Well once again Fortress Oak held out against the siege and managed another home win, but it was no thanks to me.

Old Oak 3, Salfords A 2
*Paul 4490, Linda 960  (Linda was off to a good start but Paul played one of his best games of the season)
Martin 2140, *Sheila 1180 (our captain fantastic got 1000 ahead early on and stayed there for the remainder of the game)
So at this stage Merstham VC A were put out of contention but we still might be looking to Salfords B for a favour .......
Clive 950, *Teri 3450 (brilliant game from Teri, putting me under pressure from the start, I had a chance late on but muffed it by 4-timing)
*Charlie 910, Les 4560 (good all round play from Les, to leave us needing a hero)
Cometh the hour, cometh the Silver Fox all the way from Eastbourne back to his original stomping ground of Mead Vale......
*Foxy 8470, Teri (4 plyr) 140 (2 good breaks, ball moved off the spot to end the first one at just under 5k)

*So we now await to see if Horley got the Hawaii needed to deny us the B League title and what always seemed the unlikeliest of promotions*
And interestingly, a 3-2 win at Salfords B for Horley CC would leave them level with MVCA on both points and matches won.

[Dave J]

Salfords B (4-1) Horley CC

Dave 5230 v 2310 *Roland
*Liam 6350 v 1300 Alex (Liam break 4970)
Mark 1470 v 1400 *Luke (Went to last few balls after Mark pegged 2.6k)
*Caroline 3700 v 2130 Aaron
Melissa 1550 v 2680 *Nev

[billiardsmichael]

SPCC A	4	v	1	Nomads
Tracy	7420	-	4790	*Max
Sleezy	9870	-	2530	*Abbey
Junkie	6320	-	4820	*Jim
DC*	10260	-	1230	Dave
Ricky	0	-	21120	*Michael

The final league game of the season is upon us and what a great matchup to finish with. The South Parkians needed just one point to seal second spot in the table, whereas the Nomads needed to better Salford Ys result by one point to take fourth spot.

First up was two players in great form, Max and Tracy. Max managed to scab the break for the final time and he was looking to repeat his heroics of a couple of months earlier when he kept Denise in her seat. This time Max looked uncomfortable though. He couldn't quite settle on the split shot and, despite a couple of good recoveries down the back, the 100 whipped out on the split at 4.2k and Max was off soon after. Tracy - keen to keep the pressure on Ladies POY rival Denise - was in a determined mood, but the back of the table was not going to make things easy. Both players had goes at getting them back and it was Tracy who found the magic touch. She went about making a big enough break but when she drew level with Max on 4k things got tricky, a ball down the middle after a wayward split but Tracy was not going let that stop her. An excellent recovery shot and she played to the bar before tap-tapping with a break of 7.2k. 1-0

So, SPCC A had got the frame they required and so everyone could relax. Abbey has enjoyed her trips to South Park this year and she was going well again here. An excellent opener of 2230, expertly leaving the red on the 50 hole and then rolling it and the cue ball in, left her just 10 short of the mark Abbey herself had set for highest neutral break in Div B. Sleezy couldn't get them back first time, but at the second time of asking he did and he cruised his way to 6k before a generous tap. Abbey still needed 1.5k to snatch the high neutral score for the Div B Ladies, but she couldn't get the balls back and Sleezy looked to add a few more. He even got support from young Raffles who was a keen spectator, head following the white into the 50 on every break shot and he was generous enough not to thwart the one-up with a stray paw. After 3k more a underhit one-up saw him come off but Abbey didn't have time to catch Caroline's high score before the bar dropped. 2-0

After a game of great entertainment, what could Jim and Junkie serve up? Jim plays on Junkie's top in the Billingshurst league and it appeared he wasn't adjusting to the South Park top overly well. The first break was too thin with the red flying past the 50 and, after recovering the break, Jim managed to do the same again!! He did get the balls back for a third time but he was off at just over a k. Junkie stepped up and continued his fine recent form, getting the balls straight back and faultlessly racking up 5660 before tap tapping. But he'd left Jim time. 4.8k in six minutes was the task and Jim immediately got the balls back and was splitting his way to the target, but then on 3k Jim decided to 50-pot instead of 10 split and it seemed to disturb his rhythm. The very next one-up was left way short with Jim only 800 behind Junkies score. Not looking to give Jim another chance Junkie finished off with the bar dropping shortly after he got onto the table. 3-0

So that was the result decided, but could SPCC A complete a second home whitewash of the Nomads in two years? Well DC was looking to make use of the home sides only break and he did..n't. Perhaps all his antics playing with young Ralph had taken some of his powers of concentration away from the great game? 1.2k and a fat split saw DC both shocked and off. DI wasn't expecting an early chance, but he got them back straight away and made it all the way to 1234, no sorry 1230, before a similarly fat split spelt disaster for the inspector. DC looked like he was in no mood to take advantage, and so he didn't. After a couple of goes each DC did retrieve the balls and added another 1.2k before the split shot once again stalled his progress. Inspector Dave appeared to be discombobulated by the frequency of his chances and so decided to give DC another go - this time at 1.2k it was the one-up that slid past and the merry-go-round continued. Again it was DC who got them back and he ran the rest of the time out, including an entertaining excursion down the back in the final minute after being calls for Eddie (Steady!!). 6.5k was the break to chalk up frame number four for the home side. 4-0

So, the finale. Sergeant Wilson had told his troops to go for any score they wanted on the night and so with the final break of the season could he himself snatch the high break and score of POY Dave Jones (18110) and in turn get his first competitive table playout? With the support of Ricky behind him, it didn't look good to start. An immediate greedy split saw the 100 whip and the white landed awkwardly behind the 50. Luck was on Michaels side as his shot with plenty of running side saw one balls disappear and a generous leave. With the balls back the 10 split once again presented itself and Michael took that safer option this time. About 2k in another 10 split appeared, but this time Michael misjudged it and it whipped, sitting in the right hand corner - 20-30 shot was no bother and the break was back. After taking about 2.5 mins to make 1.5k, Michael was looking to get back to a k a minute and the 8k mark ticked by at 7:57. On track. From there Michael settled into his rhythm and the excitement built. He got further and further ahead of time and the question soon became could he make 20k, not just would Dave's score be toppled. 18k at 16:45. Dave's high break and score had been caught, how far could Michael go? A first 20k in the Redhill league since master DC in October 2008? With the bar running long (18:45) Michael got there with time to spare and even managed to get to 21k (21120 break) in the time remaining. A first table playout, a first 20k and a very satisfied audience! 4-1

So a brilliant evening at South Park as usual. A couple of epic duels in the first and third games, doggy entertainment in the second, a comedy of errors in the fourth and a playout to finish off the season in the fifth. A great end to a wonderful season and a well deserved summer break.

[bigtj]

Well done Michael on your first 20k break.

[Martin Pellett]

Bricks 2 SPCC B 3

Bob lost to Mick
Mike lost to Denise
Pete lost to Martin
John beat Pete
Ian beat Denise (4 Player rule)

SPCC B secure 3rd place after a hard season, only 17 breaks in 20 games !!!

Well done Michael on your 21120 break, plenty more of those to come in the future I think.

[tommo III]

What an exciting last week of matches !
SPCC A clinching 'A' League runners-up in style, then the Nomads' Sgt Wilson's fantastic achievement !
SPCC B rattling off the first three at the Jolly Bricks to clinch 3rd place;
Horley CC being denied the good result that they needed at Salfords B for 'B' League honours - MVC A, back in the stables, the beneficiaries.
And a vulpine-enhanced Old Oak * coming through on the stand rails to pinch the 'B' League title.

* and triumphing in the face of adversity: in the first half Paul struggled, Charlie and Nick could hardly buy a win, and then Martin became seriously ill around Christmas-time. Much respect to Rebecca for stepping in for 10 matches and her game benefitted noticeably from the experience. Then towards the end my own good form deserted me but the others picked up and we suddenly got Martin back and he was able to win the games that really counted.