MATCH REPORTS...

LONDON 'B' V SUSSEX 'B'

So after a draw against Surrey, the london Bs turned our attention to the first home game of the season against sussex. We welcomed Danny Moffatt and Chris Hobbis to the team after spells in the As. The team was in high spirits after the team talk by captain Cassius and we was raring to go.

***SET ONE***

Following tradition of slow starts to county matches, we went 5-1 down. But rob cork, jack lawrence, Connor hewson, will gayler and Micky Clayton picked things up to close the deficit to 1 frame.

Set score

5-6


***SET TWO***

We reversed the set score in the second, with some good pool being played and a couple of us taking out some good finishes, a couple of chants from the junior national team champions livened the team up and got us to 11-11 going into the third set.

Set score

6-5

***SET THREE***

Shane O'reilly came in for Danny Moffatt at half time but after a bit of confusion with the referee about choice of colour, was unlucky to win his frame, sussex battled hard but so did london. Again another 6-5 set score in favour of Sussex. Score at the end of set 3 17-16 Sussex.

***SET FOUR***

The final set, and again a big push by the london boys, everyone getting behind each other, team morale was high and we believed we could get that first win on the board. Shout out to jasper bacon on his B team debut coming in for Andre. So we come to 21-21 with will gayler and Micky C to bring the match home. And both of them played superb frames to get the job done. Game set and match to london with a scoreline of 23-21!

Set score

7-4


***PLAYER STATS***

Will Gayler 4/4
Connor Hewson 3/4
Jack lawrence 3/4
Chris Hobbis 3/4
Tony Griffin 2/4
Ryan Francis 2/4
Michael Clayton 2/4
Rob Cork 1/4
Mehmet Tango 1/4
Andre Cox 1/3
Shane O'Reilly 1/2
Danny Moffatt 0/2
Jasper bacon 0/1


Man of the match is Mehmet and Shane for both winning there first frames in the men's squads. Well done lads.


Match report by tony griffin

It was always going to be a struggle this year for the London senior's having lost two of our best players from last year, this was going to be a period where we needed to regroup.

Our first match of the season reflected this with a crushing 19-6 defeat, the only bonus being things couldn't get much worse!

No one really got going on the day and Surrey proved to be a tough opposition, taking no prisoners.

Top scorer was Joe Kane managing two wins.

The rest makes for pretty dismal reading.

Paul Dawson 1/5
Paul Gafa 0/3
Joe Kane 2/5
George Hutchinson 1/5
Martin Storey 1/2
Pete Thomas 1/5


Despite the disappointing scoreline, team morale was good and we all looked forward to making a better account of ourselves next time.

So our 1st game of the new season was against the team that finished above us as regional runners-up last year.

There were a few new faces in the B team with Connor Hewson, Memhet Tango and Tony Griffin all being drafted into the mens squad fresh from the youth team. Shane O'Reilly also made his debut for the B team, as well as Adam Coppen retuning to the County set-up after taking a season break.

Would of..... Could of..... Should of.....

That sums up how I think most of us felt after our opening game of the new season.

Would have.....

Before the game if you said we was going to draw with the team that beat us twice last year, as well as win the National KO cup the week after we probably would have settled for a draw.

Could have.....

We could have lost this match by quite a big scoreline by giving our opponents another start, firstly going 4-0 down before we got our 1st frame on the board, then after going 11-8 up only winning 1 of the next 8 frames to trail 16-12.

Should have.....

After another great fightback by the team we probably should have won this match. We went 20-17 up but with a victory in our sights, we only managed to win 2 of the last 7 frames to draw 22-22.

My Man-of-the-match goes to Will Gayler, winning 4/4.

Match Stats:-

Set 1: Surrey 'B' 6-5 London 'B'
Set 2: Surrey 'B' 5-6 London 'B'
Set 3: Surrey 'B' 5-6 London 'B'
Set 4: Surrey 'B' 6-5 London 'B'

Player Stats:-

Andre Cox 2/4
Declan Kelly 2/4
Rob Cork 1/4
Tony Griffin 2/4
Jack Lawrence 2/4
Ryan Francis 3/4
Shane O'Reilly 0/2
Michael Clayton 2/4
Will Gayler 4/4
Adam Coppen 2/4
Connor Hewson 2/4
Memhet Tango 0/2


Michael Clayton
'B' Team Captain

WELL DONE LADIES!

What a fantastic start to the season,28-16 win to us, as captain I couldn't of asked for a better start.

Everyone was feeling a bit nervous as it was the first game of the season, but you wouldn't of thought it as everyone played awesome. We got off to a good start winning the first set 7-4, the second set was a bit closer at 6-5,then we feel asleep a bit and surrey managed to come back to a 2 frame difference halfway through the third set, at which time I started shouting "pick it up ladies", well you all listened as we only dropped 3 frames the rest of the match, only losing 2 frames in the fourth set.

Well done everyone, the support for the team was brilliant, keep it going for the rest of the season, an extra well done to Corinne, Michaela and Sarah for winning 4 out of 4. After receiving all the votes, player of the match goes to Michaela, well done the jester!!

I'd like us to keep the atmosphere going from Yarmouth, the team support was amazing, and everyone played their tits off!! so well done. Bring it on Sussex!!! Let's go London!!

Ange
Ladies Captain

This year the C’s have a very strong side, and demonstrated just how good they are by their first performance against a tough Surrey team beating them 26 to 18. We started off very confident winning the first set 8-3 with a dry-dish expertly executed by Bruno, set 2 carried on in the same manner with great team spirit.

Then as always with a great team like Surrey ,they came back at us in the third set 7 to 4 leaving the score at a tantalising 19 – 14 to London. But London was not going to take this lying down and Ross got the first break dish followed by another with Dean, Bruno then narrowly missed his break dish but Glen didn’t then Jordan and then finally Peter Pan executed the final break dish of the day. This means the C team executed a record breaking 5 out of a possible 6 break dishes in the final set! Winning the set 7 -4.

Men of the match has to be Peter Pan and Dean Daley with 4/4 including a break dish each, what a game, watch out Sussex as London county has hit the ground running better than ever this year.

Surrey C (Home) v London C Match synopsis

Set 1: Surrey C 3 – 8 London C
Set 2: Surrey C 4 – 7 London C
Set 3: Surrey C 7 – 4 London C
Set 4: Surrey C 4 – 7 London C

Stats

Glen Hargreaves 2/4
Ross Dawkes 2/4
Tony McDowell 1/4
Dean Daley 4/4
Steve Burke 3/4
Dan Heinink 0/2
Ben McIntosh 3/4
Kulvinder Bath 3/4
Richard Chapman 0/4
Bruno Silva 3/4
Peter Panayiotou 4/4
Jordan Kennedy 1/2
Matt Holroyd 0/0

Surrey away is always a tough fixture but what a difference a year makes! They beat us convincingly on the opening day of last season, 27 v 17, but London won this year's renewal 24 v 20.

Surrey started brightly enough, going 4 v 1 up, and winning the first set 6 v 5 before London rallied in style, winning the second set 8 v 3 for a 13 v 9 half time lead. We soon made that 16 v 9 before stopping for food. Surrey then rallied themselves to win the third set 6 v 5 and reduce our lead to 18 v 15. However London won the fourth and final set 6 v 5 to win the match with a little bit in hand.

Considering we were missing Andy, Jack and Nigel, this was an excellent result, aided no doubt by new recruits Nigel Clarke (returning to the team after a year's absence) and Dave Fernandez (transferred from Derbyshire). Dave, Joe and Rupe all played really well for their 3 out of 4's, but man of the match for London was Chris Hobbis, stepping up from the B's at very short notice and also winning 3 out of 4, looking every inch an A team player in the process.

We can now travel to Great Yarmouth for this weekend's National Finals in good spirits and can also look forward to the rest of the 2016 County season with some relish. Come on London!

Stats:

Joe Prince 3/4
Dave Rawlinson 2/4
Alex Lawrence 2/4
Tony Gear 2/4
Nigel Clarke 1/4
Rupert Ward 3/4
Dave Fernandez 3/4
Jerry Tickell 2/4
Robbie Robb 1/4
Jordan O'Connor 2/4
Chris Hobbis 3/4

Sussex C 20 -24 London C (1st Nov 2015)

With determination and great team spirit throughout 2015, London as a county vastly Improved on a poor 2014 performance.

The A team won the Region; Ladies and came 2nd; Seniors, B and C teams came third.

The C team performed great as now expected on the last game of the season winning 24 -20, this meant that we came third in the region because of only 3 frames behind Kent.

Shane O’Really (his new name) has really matured into a very good well-balanced player, and with an outstanding performance gets the final man of the match, well done fella.

Sussex (Home) v London C Match synopsis

Set 1: Sussex C 3-8 London C
Set 2: Sussex C 8-14 London C

London set off very well with a commanding lead and with every expectation of hammering in a strong win.

Set 3: Sussex C 15-18 London C

However Sussex proved their metal and came back at London winning the
set 7 - 4

Set 4: Sussex C 20-24 London C

Set 4 was shared with both teams wanting to get the best possibly finish to the season, the frames went one way then another but at 20 – 20 London powered through the last four frames to win 24-20. Well done London

Stats

Ross Dawkes 2/4
Shane O'Reilly 4/4
Jonathan Tindall 2/4
Steve Burke 1/4
Barry Barham 3/4
Alan Day 1/4
Dan Heinink 2/4
Peter Panayiotou 4/4
Adam Hewson 1/4
Kulvinder Bath 3/4
Jermey Ruffer 1/4

Another away win and a result that was good enough to win us the 2015 regional title!

The match itself was a pretty scrappy affair. London shaded the first set 6 v 5 but lost the next two sets by the same score, 11 v 11 at half time and 17 v 16 down going into the last set.

It could have been worse than that as we trailed 10 v 6 and 15 v 12 but responded well on both occasions.

We really knuckled down in the fourth set and played some decent stuff, winning it 8 v 3.

Dave brought us level at 17 v 17, Alex then put us 18 v 17 up only for Jordan to lose, 18 v 18. Tony, Rupe and Joe all won, 21 v 18 up (and nationals qualification assured), Danny lost but Jack won, 22 v 19. Andy lost, 22 v 20...

...then, with news filtering through that Berkshire had only managed a draw against Surrey, we needed just one of the last two frames to win the region and when Sussex's John Cairns unluckily potted the black early in the 43rd frame against Robbie it was 23 v 20.

Frame, match and region to London!

Joe and Jerry both won 3 out of 4 but clear man of the match for us was Rupe with an excellent 4 out of 4.

Dave and Jordan both earned well deserved England trials and we can all now look forward to the 2016 national finals next March. Come on London!!

Stats:

Joe Prince 3/4
Dave Rawlinson 2/4
Alex Lawrence 2/4
Jordan O'Connor 1/4
Tony Gear 2/4
Danny Moffatt 1/4
Jack Pople 2/4
Jerry Tickell 3/4
Robbie Robb 2/4
Andy Breen 2/4
Rupert Ward 4/4

01.11.15 Sussex (away)

Sussex Seniors 14 London Seniors 6

For the second season running London have missed out on a trip to Yarmouth for the finals on the last day of the season.

Just a draw against Sussex would have been enough to get London through as group runners up. The match started off on the wrong footing for London as only Pete Thomas was able to register a win in the first set.

Paul Gafa’ got in on the act along with Pete Thomas again in the second set, but the match was slipping away faster than the Thames tide. These two players were the only two to trouble the scorers with Pete Thomas in particular playing very well winning all four of his frames as London bowed out with a thumping third defeat of the season, 14-6.

But for 2015 unfortunately there will be no come back from this one as Sussex sneak above us to the nick the qualifying spot for the finals.

Paul Gafa’ 2/4
Glen Tingley 0/4
Martin Storey 0/2
Jerry Tickell 0/2
Pete Thomas 4/4
Adam Hewson 0/2
Allan Formosa 0/2

This was a tense match with both sides needing to win to stay in the running for the region champions.

The match could of gone either way with Berkshire taking the first set 6-5, london the second 6-5, london the third 7-4 to leave the score at 18-15, and then Berkshire came back in the last set 8-3 to take the game 23-21.

Very close match indeed and our spirit did not waver, but unfortunately a few unlucky frames cost us dear.

Steve Burke with a commanding performance and 4/4 rightly deserves man of the match.

With London tied on combined score with Kent at 925 each London could win the combined, and the C team will not let the side down on the last game.. Come on London....

Stats:

Ross Dawkes 3/4
Shane O'Reilly 2/4
Barry Barham 1/4
Glen Hargreaves 0/4
Peter Panayiotou 2/4
Ben McIntosh 2/4
Carl Speller 1/4
Kulvinder Bath 0/2
Dan Heinink 3/4
Adam Hewson 2/4
Steve Burke 4/4
Joe Slaughter 1/2

Our first away win of the season and a result that gives us a shot at winning the region.

That didn't look likely after Berkshire won the opening set 7 v 4 and the second set 6 v 5 to establish a 13 v 9 half time lead. However the London come-back had already begun by then as we had been 11 v 5 down midway through that set before taking 4 of the last 6 frames.

In the third and fourth sets we dug deep, played some good stuff and supported each other wholeheartedly. We won the third set 8 v 3 to nudge ahead 17 v 16 and managed to maintain that momentum to win the last set 7 v 4, Robbie Robb securing victory with a cool finish in the penultimate frame.

Four players won 3 out of 4, Joe Prince shading man of the match on this occasion, but this was primarily a really good all round team effort, a performance we can all be proud of.

Hopefully we can reproduce something similar away against Sussex next month.

Stats:

Joe Prince 3/4
Dave Rawlinson 2/4
Alex Lawrence 2/4
Jordan O'Connor 3/4
Tony Gear 1/4
Nigel Smith 2/4
Jack Pople 3/4
Jerry Tickell 2/4
Robbie Robb 1/4
Andy Breen 3/4
Rupert Ward 2/4