LATEST MATCH REPORTS...

London A 23 - 21 Berkshire A
Canavans, 11th March 2012

Set scores: 6-6-3-8


A resurgent Berkshire were the only team to beat us in the Region last year, so we should have been under no illusions that this'd be easy.

And just in case if anyone wasn't clear about that, we were soon trailing 3-0 thanks largely to good play by the visitors (and to some flukey position against Jamie, to be fair).

Frank stopped the rot with a spectacular double on the black, and Joe (down the order thanks to tardiness) followed up with a typically bonkers finish - not sure he ever had position till the black but he came up with the recovery shots when he needed them.

Jerry had half a chance to dish Giuseppe up first visit but had to force things a bit to get position and ended up potting the black early. Jon finished the set with a break and dish which saw us finish the set with our noses just in front.

We got the second set with the same score but with things feeling steadier now we were on terms. Sean got B&D'd (his only loss of the day) and Jon finished the set well again... potting the black he'd snookered himself on to finish off a nice dish.

The third set, so often the point where London kick in and pull away, turned into a nightmare. Sean's fantastic finish, freeing up a nasty tied-up black off his last ball, was the only highlight. Lowest moment was when Nigel got an awful kick on the black to lose to Vikas. We lost the last 5 in a row to leave us 18-15 down.

Jack won the first of the final set but losses for Jamie and Chris (to a B&D) in frames 2 and 3 put Berks on the verge of a result. We needed 7 of the last 8 to win the match.

We got the first 6 of them, clinching the draw and leaving us needing one of the last 2 frames, with a team captain on each table. Often things can get a bit cagey at this stage but as it turned out the break went well for the breaker on both tables and yours truly was able to finish the match off with a B&D just before the Berk's skipper Scott Yardley completed the same against Jon on the other table.

The win sees us take top spot in the table by a single frame from Surrey, who host Berks next month.


Jack 3/4
Jamie 0/4
Darren 1/2
Frank 4/4
Joe 2/4
Nigel 2/4
Sean 3/4
Alex 2/4
Andy 3/4
Jerry 0/2
Jon 2/4

Chris 0/2
Rupe 1/2