AEBBA National Off The Spot 2024

[JB]

Entries are now being taken for the AEBBA OFF THE SPOT to be played on Sunday 23rd June 2024 @ ROFFEY CLUB, SPOONERS
ROAD, HORSHAM, WEST SUSSEX, RH12 4DY

Entry Fee will be £5 per player

Entry List

1. Jean Brackenridge
2. Alan Brackenridge
3. Dave Ingram
4. Tony Jenner
5. James Whittle
6. Ian Lelliott
7. Phil Osborne
8. Bob Osborne
9. Curt Driver
10. Gerry Fitzjohn
11. Jim Millward
12. Rick Cunningham
13. Clive Thompson
14. Stuart Carruthers
15. Michael Wilson
16. Paul Jobbins
17. Bob Hall
18. John Slee
19. Stuart Mepham
20. Matt Knight
21. Kevin Tunstall
22. Martin Smith
23. Chris Cox
24. Alan Donovan
25. Martin Cole
26. Joe Oakley
27. Mark James
28. Melissa Beach
29. Nigel Senior
30. Daniel Wheal
31. Matt Jones
32. Mark Trafford
33. Ian Gordon
34. Keith Hollis
35. Steve Burns

[BB Warrior]

Please can you add David Ingram.

[bigtj]

Tony Jenner, James Whittle and Ian Lelliott please

[curtd]

Curt Driver and Gerry Fitzjohn please

[Dave J]

Dave Jones and Caroline Jones please.

[billiardsmichael]

Please can you add me Jean, thanks.

[JB]

updated

[paulJ]

Please add Paul Jobbins, thanks.

[bobhall]

Please add Boball

["Silent"]

I'm in - have paid Jean

[SirKT]

Add me please

[therealmc]

Add Smithy to the list please?

[chriscox83]

Chris cox please

[aland]

Alan Donovan please

[milhouse]

When is the closing date? Trying to sort a lift :)

[JB]

List updated

Please note due to holidays the closing date for entries for this competition will be
9TH JUNE 2024

[mattjj]

Please can you add matt jones

[NigelS]

Just another push for entries on this - if you do intend to enter please put your name down, so we have a good idea on numbers by the end of the week.

I am away for 2 weeks so need to pass on some formats over to Stu Carruthers this weekend before I go.

Thanks

Nigel

[JB]

Updated

[Dave J]

Unfortunately Caroline and I are no longer available to play.

["Silent"]

Please add:-

Jim Millward
Rick Cunningham
Steve Burns

[StuC]

Entries are now closed. The draw will be done later in the week and will post as soon as completed. The competition will start with a group phase.

[StuC]

Please see the draw and format for AEBBA National Off The Spot 2024.

The competition will start with groups. These will be single leg games, with the first named player having the first break. The top three in each group will qualify for the Main, with the group winner going straight into the Last 16 and the second and third places going into a double leg play-off.

The fourth and fifth in each group will go into the plate.

The groups will start at 11am so please can all players arrive before this time.

Group A
A1	Martin Smith
A2	Stuart Mepham
A3	Mark Trafford
A4	Bob Osborne
A5	Kevin Tunstall
Group B
B1	Clive Thompson
B2	Dave Ingram
B3	Michael Wilson
B4	Martin Cole
B5	Matt Jones
Group C
C1	Nigel Senior
C2	Rob Hall
C3	Chris Cox
C4	Curt Driver
C5	Daniel Wheal
Group D
D1	Ian Gordon
D2	Rick Cunningham
D3	Paul Jobbins
D4	Alan Brackenridge
Group E
E1	Mark James
E2	Keith Hollis
E3	John Slee
E4	Phil Osborne
Group F
F1	Stuart Carruthers
F2	Ian Lelliott
F3	Tony Jenner
F4	Steve Burns
Group G
G1	Jim Millward
G2	Gerry Fitzjohn
G3	Alan Donovan
G4	Joe Oakley
Group H
H1	Matthew Knight
H2	Melissa Beach
H3	Jean Brackenridge
H4	James Whittle

Series	Time	Stage	Match 1	Match 2	Match 3	Match 4	Match 5	Match 6	Match 7	Match 8
1	11.00	Group Match (One Leg)	A1A2	B1B2	C1C2	D1D2	E1E2	F1F2	G1G2	H1H2
2	11.25	Group Match (One Leg)	A3A4	B3B4	C3C4	D3D4	E3E4	F3F4	G3G4	H3H4
3	11.50	Group Match (One Leg)	A2A3	A5A1	B2B3	B5B1	C2C3	C5C1
4	12.15	Group Match (One Leg)	A4A5	B4B5	C4C5	D2D3	E2E3	F2F3	G2G3	H2H3
5	12.40	Group Match (One Leg)	A1A4	B1B4	C1C4	D4D1	E4E1	F4F1	G4G1	H4H1
6	1.05	Group Match (One Leg)	A3A1	B3B1	C3C1	B4B2	C4C2	A4A2
7	1.30	Group Match (One Leg)	A2A5	B2B5	C2C5	D1D3	E1E3	F1F3	G1G3	H1H3
8	1.55	Group Match (One Leg)	A5A3	B5B3	C5C3	D4D2	E4E2	F4F2	G4G2	H4H2
9	2.30	Main Play-Off (Double Leg)	2ndH v 3rdD	2ndG v 3rdC	2ndF v 3rdB	2ndE v 3rdA	2ndD v 3rdH	2ndC v 3rdG	2ndB v 3rdF	2ndA v 3rdE
10	3.15	PLATE Play-Off (Single Leg)	4thF v 5thC	4thG v 5thB	4thH v 5thA
11	3.45	MAIN L16 (Double Leg)	1stA v 2ndH/3rdD	1stB v 2ndG/3rdC	1stC v 2ndF/3rdB	1stD v 2ndE/3rdA	1stE v 2ndD/3rdH	1stF v 2ndC/3rdG	1stG v 2ndB/3rdF	1stH v 2ndA/3rdE
12	4.45	MAIN & PLATE QF (Double Leg)
13	5.30	MAIN & PLATE SF (Double Leg)
14	6.15	MAIN & PLATE FINAL (Double Leg)

[StuC]

Nigel Senior has unfortunately had to drop out for Sunday.

If anyone would like to take his place in the easy(?) Group C then please let me know.

[StuC]

Ian Lelliott has been replaced by Lee Cable

[StuC]

Ricky Dewdney is replacing Nigel Senior

[SirKT]

Congrats to Bob Hall for winning his second major title, again at the Roffey club. Adding this title to the Sussex Open which he took earlier this month. He beat Mark Trafford in the final this time and also a list of champions on the way. He won his group that included Curt, Coxy, Dan & Ricky, then proceeded to beat Martin Cole, Phil Osborne, Matt Jones and finally Mark T.

[bigtj]

Well done Bob you had played consistently well all weekend.

[StuC]

Congratulations to Rob Hall who won the National Off The Spot beating Mark Trafford in the Final.

As has been said elsewhere Bob continued his good recent form and played well all day to take the title.

Michael Wilson won the Plate beating Chris Cox in the Final.

Thank you to Stuart Mepham, Tony Jenner and James Whittle who arrived early on Saturday and helped unload the van and set the tables up; and to Stu again who was there early on Sunday to set-up. Also thanks to all who stayed and helped take the tables down quickly (although at least one of us was doing this wrong!!) to allow the room to be cleared and let Keith drive the van to Oxford.

Thanks to Nigel for providing the format and to Matthew Knight who helped with the format, organising players and scorers on the day. Also thank you to Jean Brackenridge for all the admin to getting the entries and sorting the money and trophies.


Thank you to the Roffey Club for hosting us and to Kirstie for providing the food.

Finally thank you to all who played and scored and made it a good day which ran to time.

[billiardsmichael]

My sole reader has been asking where my reports have gone, particularly after another QF run in Northampton, but I told them that I usually hadn't done reports on Opens. Anyway, due to no popular demand, here is my AEBBA OTS report!

Firstly thanks to those that ran the day, Nige fancied a little boat trip so StuC, Jean & Matt took up the reigns. I've always struggled at the Roffey Club and, as ever, the front tables were all very playable but the back were a bit of a hodgepodge. Luckily though I only went over that side in the groups!

I'd also like to make a special mention to Dawn Jordan! Dawn has expressed disappointment that her 9210 break in the Surrey Open L64 (highest Ladies break on the day) to beat Bryan Stevens on the flying table 6 wasn't brought up. So I'm sorry Dawn, but it would be too late to mention it now.

Anyway, on with the billiards and we start with Silent, who couldn't handle the heat of Spicy (Mel B) in the opening leg and he kept his 100% record throughout the day. LuckilyUnluckily for the tipsters nobodyeverybody tipped him to top the group... I'm sure there were lots of interesting results, but the other group of real interest was Group C, Ricky Dewdney came in as a last minute replacement for the sea-surfing Senior and won his opening three matches to make it through in second place! Eventual champ the non-tipping Bobble topped the group with Curt third and PoW pairing Chris Cox and Dan going through to the plate.

Now that I've rambled and Silent has drifted off, I'll get to how I did. A nasty group consisted of Martin Cole, Matt Jones, Dave Ingram, Clive Thompson and I and the sole aim was to get in the top three and see where I could go from there... Things started very fortunately, I missed my opening split against Coley and so he went about racking up 8k - there were a few dodgy moments but then one too many came, hitting an awkward ball this time he pushed it too far up the table and over the line!! A steady 2.5k later I'd survived a bullet and started a bit of a trend for Coley! Straight back on Dave had the break and a rather ragged 6k in 10 mins gave him a healthy lead. I didn't fancy making anything of it and pegged my first split (jeez did I hit it thick) and gave the balls back. Game over.

After a short break I next had Clive on the tricky table 8, given I was sporting a makeshift Jamaican headband I thought maybe I'd get a bit of flair and be able to pull off a few crowd-pleasers! As it happens I missed a ball on the second break shot and was off on 300, which was the biggest break I made in the game. It was nip-and-tuck but when I messed up a ball over the 50 with the table loaded, tommo took full advantage with a 1.5k break on the 50 hole to take the leg. I then went on to play Jonesy, and with Martin, Clive and I all on one win each a win for me would take me through in 3rd, a loss and Coley would go through with me in 5th. Matt was faultless, every split clean and he touched up on 9.2k. Once again I lost my first break, missed a ball down the middle - rabbit of extremely negative euphoria.

I've never liked the Plate, I will maintain that I'd rather lose my second game in the main than win the Plate, but c'est la vie. First up on table 4 I had Alan Donovan and thankfully the break was at least possible unlike the only other time we've played each other!! Instead of a flip because my average in the group was less Alan got the break (I think that should be re-thought next year, just flip - comparing averages between different groups isn't a fair comparison) and that rather deepened my frustrations. Alan looked to be going along nicely but unexpectedly he was off at 3.7k. For the first time the whole day I held the cue at the right end but, just as I'd got level I thinned a 10 split. The white went clean but the red caught the rim of the 50 and... sat on the peg spot. Great, balls back for Alan and no score. But Alan fell foul of leaving a ball up the middle and was off after just a minute or so without scoring! I got them straight back and this was now do or die, a little excursion down the back on 2.8k but I was fortunate and recovered so I managed to tap on 5.5k with the bar gone to pinch it.

I was still in a bad mood at this point but things really turned around in the QFs. This time we had a toss and I lost, so Bob Osborne put me in on table 3... I've never run a table out in a national event but this felt like the time. I'd actually played well against Alan and against Bob I just settled in with a mix of 100/10 splits and the odd push through on the 50. 14.2k in just over 17 minutes and a 50 pot missed, one minute from that first national playout, drat. Anyway I believe it was the high break on the day - Traff took home the high break with 13.5k against Sleezy, but I don't think there was anything bigger in the Plate - which I must admit I'm quite proud of. The second leg was alot of fun, Bob always had a tough task chasing and he broke down on about 2k, from there we played alot of exhibition shots (mostly successfully) with Bob commenting after "I thought I'd continue for a bit as I was enjoying the trick shots". A fun leg and it had rather kicked me out of that downbeat mood.

Next up I took on a second PoW player in Dan Wheal, who may of consumed one or two Jaegers over the course of the day. Once again I lost the toss and was put in but this time I was off on 2k - despite being back on table 4. Dan couldn't get them back and there was a bit of a battle with a tricky ball up the centre. I managed to play my best shot of the day to get them back though, with one ball behind and slightly right of the 10 hole and another just off straight for a pot into the LH 50 I firstly potted the 50 leaving the cue ball a couple of inches to the left of the 200, with this set up I aimed to play that onto the rim of the 10, hopefully knocking the ball down there off a cushion into the 20/30 while the cue ball would go directly into the LH 50. Amazingly a brilliant boomer was pulled off and I got the break back adding about 5k, coming off when I put the one-up behind. Dan added a few in return and so had a look at the break and my lead was 5.5k going into leg two. Dan was not going to rush his break and he steadily accumulated with a whole sackful of "shot Stuey"s along the way but he was almost at parity when disaster struck. 5k in and Dan thinned the one-up, it agonisingly flicked the peg and Michaels lead was maintained with 9 minutes already on the clock. The ball didn't come back though and so with it awkward and a healthy lead, I potted a few 50s before trying an awkward tap up. From their it was very much a battle of attack v defence, with Dan doing his best to move balls out of awkward spots and me being more than happy to put them back or roll up to balls in the middle of the table. I think it's fair to say Dan wasn't hugely pleased with that tactic, but I was now playing to win. I killed enough time and so, with neither of us retrieving the balls, I got into a second AEBBA Plate final.

A second I hear you ask? Yes well I got to the Alternate Rules plate final in 2022 and played on a god awful top that I'd handsomely lost on the day before in the Oxon Open so was runner-up to Sid Ponting. This time it was a tougher task facing the Sussex OTS champion from the day before - Chris Cox. The game was on table 3, which Chris had generously agreed to despite the fact I'd played it in the QF and, as you may have come to expect, I lost the toss and was put in - a clean sweep. I couldn't replicate my previous form with a greedy 100 split not coming across enough and I left it up the middle of the table. Missed. Nil points. Chris couldn't get it back and after a couple of goes each I did manage too and set about setting a target, I got to 6.9k when I came off, I think by thicking a split and missing both balls. Chris got them back and added a couple of k to get a feel for the table before leaving the one-up short, and so I added 1.5k more to hold a lead of 6.6k going into the second leg. So Chris had a target, but he fell to the same fate as me missing a ball up the middle early on. With the balls awkward again my incentive to move them was minimal and so the table soon became loaded. With balls migrating to the middle on three occasions I took time out of the game by single ball potting to the 30, with the target of getting to 11 minutes and I'd be safe. Chris fought hard to get the balls back but the task was too great, with me loading the table there was always a couple of nasty balls and so another dogged defensive display bore fruit in a way that only Mourinho and perhaps DIngram would be proud of!!

So, a first national Plate! It's nice to have taken a trophy and beaten good players along the way and rather worryingly I seem to be becoming Damo's protégé with three Plate wins in a matter of months (WBBA Blackout, Worthing Masters, AEBBA Off the Spot). So at least I walked away from the Roffey Club feeling that I'd played well for the first time in six attempts - now onto the second leg of the Watney Mann and a trip to Didcot where I'll be searching for a few more Grand Prix points.