London C 16 Berkshire C 28
Posted by The Doctor on June 17 2011 07:03:12
In what's been a very disappointing season, this was the worst defeat yet for the talented but somehow underperforming London C team. Berks positively outplayed us. They dominated three of the four sessions. And it wasn't for the lack of us making chances - we made them, we just didn't take them. Oh, for that last positional shot, or that final pot. Berks players were behind in so many games but came back to win with pot blacks, many quite acute cuts, punched confidently into the pocket, the likes of which we could only dream of.
The writing was on the wall when Berks went 6-0 up. Thank heavens Mo stopped the rot! But they still won the opening session by an emphatic margin of 9-2. Paul 'The Machine' Dawson had won the last frame of that quarter and this sparked a little revival, as we won the next couple as well and took the second session 7-4. But we could never get closer than four frames behind. The Berks took off, winning the third session 8-3 and the final one 7-4 to wrap up an easy win.
With 3/4 Paul was once again man of the match and I am incredibly grateful to him for his sheer balls. He was narrowly behind Chappers for top performer of the season but with Chappers absent this month, Paul's performance puts him in a commanding position. But it is a bit of a lacklustre list, because aside from those two, only one player - Mo - has a record that is currently above 50%, and only two others, Charlie and Booney, are on 50% (not counting Danish who has been absent since the first match).
As for other performances from yesterday: Nobody was dreadful, but all were disappointing. Paul Shrimpton recovered well from his two previous matches to get a much better 2 from 4 (but he can do so much better, as we all know), and Mo and Booney both got 2 from 4 as well. For the rest of us - Andre, Dean, Charlie, Shane, Jeremy, Paul W, and myself - it was a case of 1 from 4 and rueing missed chances.
Paul D also got a break-dish which is always worthy of note. Booney managed a full dish off his opponent's dry break. Charlie played the shot of the night, though - a fantastic and gutsy black just off the side rail length of the table which played the roll bloody perfectly! It was worthy of the A team!
The Cs are currently letting down the rest of the county with our terrible season. We're half way through now and changes have to be made. It may be time for a shake-up and to kick-start some energy because while the season has been lost to us, we need to plan for next year. At present, as suggested earlier, almost the entire team is going to have to retrial. Let's use this season to secure our places, regroup and bond, so that we can mount a challenge next year. But let's also take each game as it comes and win, for our pride as players, for the rankings, and for London county.
Final message: Recover quickly Mikey! County matches ain't the same without you!