Northants Bar Billiards League

Recap

A highly competitive match which really could have landed either way.

Andy opened up confidently and played a solid game considering his extended absence from competitive play. Al never got to grips with the table – it was more than a little paced and demanded accuracy rather than style. A season high score gave the ‘Bees’ an early lead.

Ben started the second and, with his type of table in front of him, he should have been feeling pretty confident. Despite this he struggled to gain any kind of rhythm. Cliff found the going tough against a much more experienced opponent and although Ben was far from his best – he always had a little too much in reserve. He levelled things for the visitors.

When players say it was ‘one of those nights’ it really could mean one of two things. In Lorin’s game against Iestyn both players would be absolutely accurate in that choice of words. For Lorin, everything went in, everything found the centre of the hole and nothing lipped – and even when it did, the ball found it’s way into another! As for Iestyn – he had the same amount of luck – sadly all of his was bad.

Ian started leg 4 in good style with a little over a thousand break – he was clearly in the mood. Steve had a much slower start and found himself struggling to sustain any kind of challenge. Ian then powered in a break of 2,160 – a remarkable effort – and took a commanding lead. That said, Steve was not done yet and he steadily clawed back some of the deficit. At one stage, after Ian had left a ball almost on the left-hand baulk line – and then touched a second ball onto it to keep his break – Steve played some remarkable shots including a near impossible shot which was executed so perfectly that the whole pub were in raptures. Time ran out in the end and Ian also added a season high score to the Red Lion effort and secured a long overdue win for the team.

In the finale – Matt started with the advice of his team ‘it’s pretty quick, be careful’ ringing in his ears! Obviously, he undercut the break and left both balls short of even the black peg! That was the only mistake, however, in what was to be an almost flawless display on a table that clearly suited him. With a break of 2,920 in the middle of the leg, he added more than a thousand in breaks either side. An outstanding and ‘man of the match’ worthy performance to finish the evening – Stuart was a mere spectator enjoying Matt’s performance like the rest of us.