Friday, November 24, 2006

cpl league match

This was the first match of the new season against our other Lady Jane team who now go by Lady Jane A! I had a great game and won against Shaun, who is a good player, but his pocket covering shot didn't quite come off and he let me in. I had already potted 2 from my first visit and the rest were all in good positions except the black, so I went for it, nudged the black out when potting my second last ball, and finished leaving Shaun with 7 balls on the table! What a nice way to start the season!

We were 3-2 down after the singles but played well in both doubles though and got a good 4-3 win. There were so many times last season that we lost 4-3 in the same situation and that's why we ended up having to play off! This season will be different though I'm sure.

I'm keeping a book of averages for our team in the singles this season as I am quite interested to keep a record of how I'm playing.

 

tuesday night league

We had G8 'B' this week which technically were the B team from the same venue as our team until it closed. We won the fixture 6-4 and after dropping to 3rd in the table after last weeks thrashing by the 147 'A', this will hopefully have moved us back into 2nd, depending on other results.

I lost my game, I just couldn't seem to get a shot right! I tried 3 times to cover pockets, and left big enough gaps twice and potted the other! Our adopted home table isn't the best by any means, but they were good enough to put us up at short notice. Only 2 weeks (1 match) to go this season though and looks like we might be moving back to Club 147 next season so table wise, that's a good move!

 

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

cpl top blokes

Darren Cato & Paul Upton were this weeks opponents @ The Engine, on their re-clothed tables. Cato went 5-0 up on me before I started to get a grip of myself! I had chances to win 2 of them but as usual, couldn't quite finish. I got it back to 5-3 before he got his all important 6th frame so it wasn't the total disaster it looked like being!

Paul had just beaten Sarah 6-0 when I played him and knowing what a good player he is, wouldn't have been surprised if he carried his form on against me. At 4-0 up I thought I was doomed but although I missed my last yellow on a clearance and ended up losing the frame, was happy overall with my play. I won the next 2 and did a great clearance by my standards to get it to 5-3, but Paul broke & dished to clinch the match and it was an excellent dish from some tough positions.

This was probably my best performance so far, even though I lost again, my long potting was excellent. A few shots let me down here and there but for once I got better the longer the night progressed!

 

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Tuesday night league

I've only recently joined this league with Sam from County's team. This week we had the 147 'A', who won the Champion of Champions team event in Great Yarmouth a couple of weeks ago, so it was always going to be a tough fixture!

We lost 8-2 in the end, we could have had a couple more at least but I had to force a yeallow into the middle to get position and it bounced out of the pocket, and Mark was unlucky on his position to get on the black after clearing his colours from the break. I was given 2 games this week and won my second against captain Ferret after he gave me 2 shots, so I was quite happy!

There are only a few matches left this season now, but we were second in the table up to this match!

 

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

cpl top blokes

This week I had Deuce first, who told me he'd already lost more matches this season than in all the previous season's put together! That didn't make me think I would beat him though as he is an excellent player, although I did manage to go 2-1 up! For me it was a case of putting together some nice shots and then missing something easy... it's the same old story at the minute but when I get down to my last couple of balls I always make costly mistakes! I lost 6-3 in the end which is a respectable score, and Dave had cleared up from my breaks twice!

Rich Lewin was my next opponent and he beat me convincingly 6-2. I just couldn't seem to grasp the speed of the table - it was so slow!!! I left myself short on a number of shots leaving me unable to pot, and Rich was finishing well. I won the first and made it 2 with Rich only needing one to win. I had a chance to make it 5-3 but missed a long black, and then over hit a safety shot on the black to let Rich in for the victory.

 

Monday, November 13, 2006

County

First match of the season:
21st January, Lincolnshire [Away]

Last match:
12th November, Staffordshire [Home]
Drew 22-22

National Champions Staffordshire Ladies were our final opponents of the season, so a big job was in hand. We got off to a flyer, winning the first leg 8-3, but over the next 3 legs Staffs clawed their way back into it and we couldn't get our noses over the finishing line, losing the last 3 frames to end up with a draw. There were some great performances though and Helen, who beat Karen Tomkinson and Lyndsey Roberts, deservedly won player of the match! On a normal day this would have been a good result but we were playing to get to the National Finals and to be honest, I think Notts will pip us to the post now after a big win at W.Mids and Derby to play.

Today was my worst performance score-wise of the season, only picking up 1/4, and it couldn't have come at a more crucial time. To be honest I am totally gutted, especially having had chances to win 3/4 and not taking them. I don't know now if I have done enough to get England trials and the wait when we have our bye next month will be even more tense now. If I don't get in I've still had an excellent season, but I will still be disappointed to have done so well only to have fallen at the final hurdle. We'll have to wait and see, fingers crossed!!

 

CPL relegation play-off

The new season starts this week in Coalville, and as 32 teams are now registered the league has been split into 4 divisions instead of 3. This meant 3 teams were to be relegated from the Premier League, and as we finished joint 3rd from bottom with Foresters, we had to play-off to decide who would stay up and who would have to turn out in Division 1 this season coming.

We played at the Oak last week and we always knew it would be a close match as they always are between our 2 teams. It wasn't exactly an epic match on the skill and technique front - from both teams! But we managed to win it 4-2 and are staying up!

I am pleased we didn't go down as the standard of player in the Premier is far better than Division 1, with the exception of a couple of teams, and so it is more of a challenge and makes you raise your game to play.

 

Monday, November 06, 2006

champion of champions

Club 147 'A' and the Engine had both qualified for the team event representing Leicestershire and it was nice to have the Coalville boys there. Unfortunately they were knocked out in the last 32 though. Club 147 'A' captained by County Mens A team skipper Steve Robertshaw, or Ferret as he's affectionately known, led his side through to the Sunday (Last 16) so we still had someone to support!

I joined watching them as they went into a 3 man play-off to get through to the quarters and the nerves were jangling with only 1 break from 3. It could have been all over without 2 players getting a shot if they had broke & dished, but it turned out Tommy Donlon lost the frame he broke and Colin Treadwell took his frame to make it 1 all. Vinny Allen was last to finish and made a brilliant clearance to get them through.

After the tension of that match the lads seemed to overflow with confidence, taking the quarter final 8-3 and the semi 8-2, so we got our table side seats ready to cheer them on in the final. It turned out to be an unbelieveable performance, taking the first leg 6-1 and the Championship 8-3, with the captain Ferret clinching it with his frame! It was such a pleasure to watch, all the lads played excellent pool and after our own disappointing weekend this was really something to be proud of for the Club 147 'A' team and for the whole County!

Well done to all the lads - Ferret, Colin, Vinny, Tommy, Gavin, Cookie and Scott!!!

 

Ladies interleague KO cup

Our draw seemed to be fairly favourable with London, Mercury Ladies and Padiham Kiwi's in our group, but for the second year running we fell at the first hurdle. Our first match against London was a bit of a disaster for a few of us losing 8-4 - I went on first and couldn't hit a barn door, I was very disappointed with how I played and letting the team down and was dropped for the second leg. I had no problem with this as I simply wasn't performing, and top County rank or not, if you don't perform then someone else should get their chance.

Our second match v Mercury Ladies was a much better team effort which was rewarded with an 8-4 victory and a chance to get through to the knock-out stages. Our chance was blown though by London who we had to play again and beat, but lost 8-3 due to a few mistakes by us but also quite a lot of good fortune for them, we had no run of the green whatsoever and a lot of games were turned in their favour by flukes.

We were all really gutted as on paper we should have sailed through, maybe it was the staying out late and alcohol the night before and maybe we should calm that down next year to make sure we take our chance and make sure we succeed!

 

National ladies pool championship

This year's draw for the singles event held in Great Yarmouth could have been better with me being drawn to play Sarah if I won my first round match, but I thought I had a good chance of getting through to play her. I played well and made a couple of nice clearances to go into a 4-1 lead but somewhat fell apart when my opponent got one back and seemed to lose the ability to finish... from there I lost 5-4 which was disappointing. As it happened Sarah ended up losing 5-4 to the same player in round 2.

I entered the plate competition though as I wanted to play more than one match! I had to wait around for about 4 hours to be called only for my first opponent to have dropped out due to illness so I got a bye. Teresa from County was my next match and you never want to play a friend, but it had to be done and I won 3-1. I also won my next round 3-1 and drew Debbie from Notts & England in the quarter finals. I had beaten her twice at County this year but it wasn't to be in this competition as she sailed past me 3-0 with 2 lovely clearances, one from my in off break to clinch it, and she also went on to win the competition. I was happy with how I'd done for the day though and for the second year running I'd reached the quarters.

 

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