We squeezed past E57 in
last Wednesday's game in the second round of the Perfection Cup. It was an
enjoyable evening as the team met up with a few old faces from teams we had
played as we had progressed through the leagues.
E57 had two matches at home and
Northfield Cons were playing the E57 A side whilst we played the B side. One
problem was that with two teams at home, we had to share 3 tables and for
some reason, they played our matches on the two outside tables, so you could
only really focus on one of the matches at a time. As E57 are in a lower
division we had to give them a 75 points start.
Luke Ellis really struggled but
somehow managed to come out with a win by 27 points. Luke was not at all
happy with the cue ball and after the match he lined up the white between
two other balls and it was clearly smaller than the other balls. They
changed the cue ball then, but of course, it was too late for Luke.
Ian Rawlings was over on the other
table and he struggled early on, but managed to find some rhythm towards the
end to win by 39 points.
So at that stage, things were looking
good, especially with Mark Sutton still to come.
Dave Thomas was next and he was a
total contrast to last week against a pretty average opponent and
subsequently lost by 27 points.
Paul Haywood's game was a bit of a
rollercoaster. Paul got in first and really should have made more of one
opportunity in particular. He potted a black on a break of 16 and split the
reds perfectly. He then rolled in a red but didn't follow through enough,
leaving him needing the spider to pot the black. He thought he'd got it, but
it stayed right on the edge of the pocket. From this his opponent made a
useful comeback and then proceeded to get in front. Paul was starting to
worry as he knew by now that Dave had lost and he really needed to give Mark
a decent chance. Paul was 20 behind with the colours left and he then
mounted a good comeback, potting through to the blue, then a bit of safety
on the pink and black, and he ultimately managed to get them both to somehow
win by 7.
So Mark Sutton needed to win by 35. He
looked a bit nervous early on, but fortunately so did his opponent. Mark
made a couple of reds but could not really get a decent break, but
eventually he did and made a useful break of 47. He then managed to make
another break at which point we were 56 ahead but with only one red left so
his opponent conceded.
So, onto round 3!
