LATEST MATCH REPORTS...

London A 24 - 20 Sussex
Canavan's,
8th July 2012

Set scores: 4-9-3-8

Full credit to Sussex for giving us such a tough game; if they improve again next year they could start influencing things a bit more.

We didn't play well, but we did also got some run at times. A black rattled in the corner jaws and went in opposite corner, can't remember whose, and Darren's fluked zigzag length of table pot on his last colour (when going for double in middle), which to be fair to him was followed up by an excellent long cut on the black, came at a crucial time early in the final set.

On the flip side, Darren's rerack in the 2nd set was a bit painful to watch (both players missed several chances to make something happen) but he won the frame well at the second attempt so all's good.

Joe only got 3 wins thanks to being beaten by a fairly naughty break and dish (the last yellow had to be flicked off a red before doubling into the middle - nice shot). But in his next and final frame, Joe took dish naughtiness to another level altogether. This was at 17-16 down, and followed by Andy securing his full house then Darren's fluke.

From 19-16 up we got to the line fairly comfortably, and the team kindly conspired to let their captain get the winner again, although as usual I did try to mess up the easy clearance :-)

The road to that 17-16 score was strange. We lost the first set 7-4, thanks in part to some sloppy (overconfident) play, then really turned it on to win the second set 9-2. Then it all went pear-shaped again and Sussex battered us 8-3 in the third set to take that narrow lead.

Joe 3/4
Andy 4/4
Darren 3/4
Adam 2/4
Sean 0/4
Jerry 1/4
Alex 3/4
Chris 2/4
Rupe 3/4
Jon 2/4
Nigel 1/4