ANOTHER SCRAPPY WIN NO BAD THING

27/6/22
Chorley& District League Div-3: Eagle & Child 'A' 133-132 Anderton St Joseph's 'B'
v JOAN ROSCOE W 21-19

For a second successive match I felt I'd somehow beaten the better player on the night. Joan's a good bowler and whilst after the game she was a bit despondent about her current placing in the league merit, saying, "I just can't seem to win this season", I later discovered when researching her form on bowlsnet that the games she has lost have been narrow defeats and against some tough draws. As if I wasn't already wondering how I scrapped through to win this match.
Joan took to our green immediately, which was running a bit slower after a good few showers in recent days.
In contrast, I spent most of the match cursing my inability to put two decent shots together. The red mist didn't descend, but I was flustered and frustrated with myself and seemed to be over-thinking everything I was doing. Like having to concentrate on trying to concentrate somehow. Tiredness maybe, or just a dip in form. Something wasn't quite clicking.
Joan played well throughout and was unlucky to be mainly the wrong end of over half a dozen tight measures that could have made a big difference. She led 11-8 at one point and kept her nose ahead taking me on long diagonals over the crown with some superb, very precise leads. I subsequently need to practice one of the marks she found because it was interesting and I just wasn't getting it at all.
A big end from me came on a less complex, yet long one, that Joan held two close ones on. I could feel the game slipping from my grasp here, but took a moment and finally landed a cracker. I win the next end I hear we are 16-17 so it was a big one. I must have got going a bit here because I hit nineteen first and then went all-but. Playing for the match, typically my lead wasn't good enough against this lady and a lousy second bowl paved the way for Joan to nip in for a single. It's now 20-19 and my opponent then lies game on the next end - a repeat scenario of four days previously.
It was a simple straightish thumb peg under normal circumstances, towards the right corner. But my first effort drifted a little to the right whilst Joan held two closer ones on the left.
Then... controversy. A stray bowl from another match clips the jack and one of Joan's woods.

Whilst Joan and a few watching agree on where to replace them, I stand there on the mat keeping out of it, yet starting to wonder if I'm entitled to ask for a void end? But then I quickly consider it wasn't Joan's fault, so that would feel rather unfair on her.
Instead I really felt like striking the jack off the green to void it fairly, but then if I more likely that not miss, I look a bit of a dick and by drawing my bowl instead I would have a much better chance of saving, maybe winning the match. All things considered, I just about saw sense in time.
Joan's repositioned wood looked closer to the target than it was to be fair, but in my line of sight created a larger target area to hit something if I overcook it. Overcook it I did, but you get nowt for rolling short and I clunked in to Joan's nearest bowl just thinking I'd saved one, when she offers her hand and I'm a bit confused that I'd actually won.
I got very lucky in the end, it's anybody's game when it gets that close. It wasn't a joyful win, I thought Joan deserved it really. But as Steve Wilson reasoned, grinding out a win against a tough opponent when not quite on your game is no bad thing.
Anderton St Joseph's came as close as any club to breaking our team's unbeaten run, with just one single chalk in it. But it's still intact at the season's halfway way mark, a big challenge ahead away at their place in the reverse fixture next week. 

STRIKING BACK TO WINNING WAYS

23/6/22
Leyland &District League Div-4: Eagle Reds 189-168 Chorley St Joseph's
v JAMES ARMSTRONG W 21-19

Well I knew I was in for another tough match in the reverse of last week's fixture versus St Joe's. I've seen Jim bowl a few times now and he's a really good and competitive player.
But this was home turf so I was confident of at least making more a game of it than I did at their place when Adam Walsh took me to the cleaners.
It proved to be very close, but also quite an entertaining match (At least our scorer Barry Wright enjoyed it and Steve Loynd said he found himself distracted from the game he was scoring by watching ours - compliments indeed)
On the second end I decided to strike at Jim's holding bowl and hit it fat to take one for myself. On the next end, I held two good ones and Jim splattered everything including the jack to kill the end. We were both in for a game.
There was probably nowt much in the scores between us in the first half of the game, but bouyed by my earlier strike, I hit two more on target, saving one and then nulling an end when Jim held two.
Generally though, I felt Jim was rolling much more steadier than me as I seemed to swing from brilliant to bull shit and not too much in between. One thing frustrating me was the number of times I failed to snap up a two when there was a good opportunity.
Despite this I had a little run with the block and built up a bit of a lead as I got in to the teens, perhaps 16-11 or summat like that. But it didn't feel safe, Jim's weighty blue cannonballs were always looking dangerous.
After two really awful deliveries on my favourite patch, my subsequent disgust was perhaps a lingering distraction, but Jim also started upping his game and punished me on a slightly diagonal mark over the crown that he was nailing and making me look like I'd never played on my own green. At some point the obligatory outlet of frustration was exercised and a bowl was dutifully foot-flicked in to the gutter.
Jim's precision finally broke just as the scores were about to level up. I rolled a two and closer than they needed to be to restore my inner calm.
I got the call I was on nineteen, then went all-but and a hell of a finish to this game was about to play out.
For the match, I went as long as I could go to the far corner and hedged my bets on a good lead bowl. Mission accomplished, I thought, sitting six inches behind the jack on this mark was one of my best shots all night, but Jim trumped it with an absolutely remarkable bowl that brushed alongside the jack and finished up leaning on it.
My second bowl was even closer than my first, glancing the jack before resting on it's fat side and just out. Two bloody good woods for nowt, but Jim's shot was almost a pleasure to concede to.
He also wins the next one and my advantage is cut to one point at 20-19. Jim then leads with a front toucher and possibly holding two, but it's a target and I strike successfully for a fourth time to void the end and save the match.
Jim keeps cool though and sends another good lead, a few inches shy of the block. I lost the land on my first bowl and my opponent is lying game. I turned over with a straight bowl to try and save one at least, but length and line proved to be perfect as I just passed Jim's wood and won it by an inch or two.
I can't believe I pulled through there, but somehow I found the shots despite feeling Jim was the more consistent performer on the night.
Whilst I feel my game is still improving and still needs to, striking could add a new dimension and on this evening's evidence it's worth pursuing. I regretted not being more aggressive when I got stuffed last week and although not setting out with the intent to strike in this game, I grew in confidence with it and essentially that tactic won me the game here against a good, probably better player than me. 

On the night, our captain Harry was a happy mon as we picked up a very good team win too. This included Banksy's impressive 21-14 destruction of the lad Adam who beat me to six in the reverse game seven days earlier. This game really can be horses for courses.  

BANKS ACCOUNTED FOR

22/6/22
Eagle Members League Div-1
v STEVEN BANKS W 21-13 (Off 3-3)

Before I joined the Eagle & Child Bowling Club, the mention of 'Banksy' would immediately flit my thoughts upon probably the most original and influential street artist of our times. Spanning in to a fourth decade of producing famous works under the veil of anonymity, one could say he, she or they, are nothing less than an enigma.
These days though, when I hear 'Banksy', my inner search engine goes straight to Steven Banks from Leyland. Although anything but anonymous, certainly enigmatic in many ways, one of our bowling club's characters and certainly one on his own. There's nowt not to like about Banksy.
Usual pre-members league match routine applied, despite the heat of late afternoon a nice three miler was trotted out underneath the cover of trees where possible. Another baking hot day kept the Eagle green running too, and at optimum speed.
The match with Banksy would complete the half way mark of my season in this competition and I was intent on maintaining a top three spot for as long as I can.
We both agreed we weren't big fans of super-fast greens, but the first end was high calibre as I pipped a super shot from Steven before the next half dozen ends were tight and neither of us could keep hold of the block. Eventually though I had a run of scoring and created a healthier gap than I thought at the time.
When I heard the scores at 17-11 I was suprised because Steve was on a roll himself with five points from three ends. This included classic Banksy... I sent the jack on a very tricky and precarious road in to the right corner's edge. My lead bowl was a little too weighty and trickled off. Banksy then sends a fantastic delivery.
Trying too hard to match it, I tense up and send it short, narrow and it joins my other one in the ditch. Two to Banksy - he can pick up the mat, but he's down and lining up his second bowl.
"Banksy! You can pick the mat up!!!"... I shouted back to him, everybody watching shouted to him also... but Bansky was in his own world and sent his second bowl regardless... which incredibly rolled up even better than his first!
It was a moment of crazy genius.
Steve's run eventually slipped though and he let me in with sloppy woods to leave plenty of room for my two. I then won another end to go all-but, but Banksy produced another top-notch bowl to save the match, winning the next end as well with a good one before I finally got the single I needed to sew up the win.
For the time being, I move up to second place in the table. It's so bonkers I've taken a  screenshot off the Bowlsnet site for posterity!
No fixture next week for me, a welcome break from Wednesday night intensity before getting myself ready for the next six equally tough, quite possibly even tougher games ahead. 

TEMPERAMENT STILL NEEDS TAMING

20/6/22
Chorley & District League Div-3:
Horwich RMI 'B' 136-149 Eagle & Child 'A'
v JEFF FARRINGTON L 12-21

Driving home from Horwich after a second convincing away defeat in five days, Gideon Coe's eclectic tunes on Radio 6 were once again the source of reflective bowling thoughts.
This time I realised I've been getting above my station a bit, thinking I should be winning matches when I have no right to. Such delusions are the driving force behind frequent returns to lapses in composure recently, thus lapses of concentration which leads to forgetting the basics. In fact even just forgetting to enjoy it.
I'd already got myself a bit stressed against Jeff, even with the score at 11-11. At this point, a head as level as the scorecard was required, but having already burst the bubble of calmness when trailing after a tidy start, even coming back to level terms wasn't enough to restore equilibrium.
This wasn't just the usual split second snap of flicking my bowl in to the ditch, this was a throwback to continuous irritation at my own play and a year on, I'm better than that and I really should know better than that. Punching the playing surface and getting myself absorbed in to a self-deprecating stress pit is not the making of a champion at any sort of level.
Jeff began hurting me up and down the near side of the green, slightly uphill and grassier one way, slightly downhill and even quicker with less grass the other way.
At 11-16 I broke the rot briefly and despite thinking about going over the only other available area of the green at that time which was the bobbly patchwork like nothing I'd seen on a bowls surface, I double dared myself to go back where Jeff had been successful. Afterwards, a few of my teammates were rightly perplexed as to why I did that because of course, yes, I made a total hash of it, starting with sending the jack way too far.
Up and down that nearside we continued and I just couldn't force a way in against Jeff's good bowls. It wasn't long before he put me out of my misery.
I thought I'd got on top of temperamental issues, but it seems it's just a lid that's not screwed on very tight. When games don't go my way, the demons rear their ugly head again. It started last Thursday, I should have seen the tell tale signs.
It's just my competitive nature, but I'm letting myself down and ultimately the team when I get my heckles up.
Fortunately though, the remaining Eagles kept their heads. We won five games to three and despite my loss by nine we were up on chalks too and further clarified our standing as league leaders. 

Having just written this recent piece in draft, I have just researched Jeff's form and I really did have no rights to win.
After losing his opener to a good player in Geoff Milliard at Westhoughton, this was Jeff's seventh victory in succession in the Chorley league, notably beating Aaron Hayhurst on his other home green at Fox Lane last week which is some feat. Jeff also stands fifth in the Division Three merit order, so I was definitely being hard on myself.
With the reset button now clicked, I need my next game quickly. It's going to be back to basics and hopefully back to winning ways. 

DOUBLE TROUBLE

17/6/22
ASHTON-ON-RIBBLE OPEN DOUBLES
At Ashton Bowling Club, Preston

First Qualifying Round
With LEE DALTON v KATH SALISBURY & CATH SIMPSON W 21-8 (Off 3-3)

A few months ago, I assigned myself and one of my bestest pals Lee Dalton to have a go at some proper doubles action. Neither of us have played it much at all, we were there for the crack really and as Mr Lee put it himself, "This is a proper night out Mr John, better than going out getting pissed". Couldn't agree more.
Neither of us will forget the first end of our debut in tournament doubles. Kath sends a brilliant lead bowl after winning the toss. Whilst Lee's opener was on good land it ran on and clunked in to the ditch, then his second replicated the first, all be it without quite as hard a clunk. Two down, leaving me to get us out of the shit. Or maybe not...
My first one also has way too much umph and... clunk! Three down. Then despite feeling I'd taken a load out of my next effort, it rolls with intent again to the trap on the green's edge and we couldn't keep a bowl on the green between us. Four down!
Only ten minutes earlier I remember asking Lee if he knew what the signal was for four points - we soon found out 😆
Gathering our dead woods from the gutter, I had to quote D-Ream because, frankly, things really COULD only get better after that debacle.
If our opponents thought we were as cabbage looking as we were daft though, we slowly got in to things and proved we had half an idea at least, limiting the ladies to a couple more singles before going on a scoring spree - including a four - with all eight woods on the green too. I sent some decent leads to keep the pressure on and when I did hiccup from time to time, Lee was playing well to rescue the situation.
The early promise of our opponents wilted a little and once we had a decent lead it felt like we were just about in charge.
The last thing we were expecting this evening was another game, but despite the worst start possible, we were texting our other halves that we were going to be late. We were through to the next round.

Second Qualifying Round
With LEE DALTON v NICK DAWSON & DAN MILNER L 8-21 (Off 3-3)

Our opponents were another notch or two above our first round experience and we didn't really get a look in against Nick and Dan. They were a very good foil for each other as Nick consistently drew good lead bowls and Dan was dangerous, delicately adding to Nick's good work or quite often messing things up when it looked like we were in.
I wouldn't say we were completely and uttterly outclassed, Lee in particular played some good shots. But experience as well as a bit of extra quality made it pretty much obvious what direction this game was going in. I had a real bad patch in the game that didn't help to make the scorecard look better, yet all in all we got more out of the night than we expected. Not just a second game, but also an insight in to some good doubles play and a decent crack which was priority number one.
With our opponents on nineteen and Lee's bowl the winner, he gives it with tongue very much in cheek, "Come on Sutty!! We've turned screw 'ere now!".
"The only thing we'll be turning soon is the ignition key for the car home", was my prompt reply.
I wasn't wrong. We hung on for another end or two until Nick and Dan finally polished us off. Unfortunately they hit the buffers in their third round qualifier going down 16-21 to the strong pairing of Phil Wilson & Bryan Clarke. 

A BLOODY NOSE AT ST JOE'S

16/6/22
Leyland & District League Div-4: Chorley St Joseph's 'B' 179-126 Eagle Reds
v ADAM WALSH L 6-21

Young Adam proved to be a very good home bowler who didn't give me much margin for error throughout the entire game.
"Good woods for nowt" is a well known phrase on the crown green circuit, and I sent a good few of those to be fair to myself. But as the scores rather brutally ran away from me and the odd knock of luck didn't go my way either, belief slowly drained away and my bowling got a bit more erratic as desperation set in.
It's tough away from home when your opponent is on it and you feel there is nowhere to go on the green for some respite. I was wishing we could have a half-time break where I could go away and talk to the fence for five minutes before trying again with a fresh outlook. But even then, the task would have been too much here, with a perfect wood required too often to realistically pull off.
This was an eye-opener, bearing in mind we are in this league's basement division. I didn't play badly but ended up with a proper bloody nose.
More aggression is required I feel in these instances. My striking shots are never far away but confidence to do it is the key. The one time I tried here I did make contact but not quite thick enough. In matches like this there is nowt to lose and it's certainly one way of trying to unsettle a superior opponent.
This was my first match for a month in the Leyland league after a holiday, then missing a game because I went on holiday, followed by a free week in the fixture list. Defeat for the team and a record defeat for me in the leagues was the grim outcome. I'm sure there'll be worse tonkings to come yet.
On way back though, Gideon Coe on Radio 6 Music was fusing none stop chilled modern jazz tracks and I was quickly soothed back in to a positive frame of bowling mind. 

CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE FOURTH KIND

15/6/22
Eagle Members League Div-1
v HARRY DERBYSHIRE W 21-19

I had a feeling this was going to be a tight game and I wasn't wrong. It needn't have been perhaps. It turned out I'd got a healthy lead together - up to 17 in fact without realising at the time - with Harry quite possibly still in single figures.
But Harry Derbyshire is nothing if not a well seasoned crown green machine. Two nights earlier he reversed a score of 6-19 to win 21-19 on this very green in our league match against Westhoughton.
Just hours before our game he won again in some other afternoon league. Harry is steady, wins a good more than he loses and is a tough nut to crack - or at least that's my assessment of what I've seen over this last year or so.
No surprises then that this game was far from over. A weighty effort of his knocked out the shout of another good two for me and made two for himself, which was a real turning point in the game.
He then took me on a favourite mark of mine, nailed it and got me rattled. His lead bowl was decent, quite often his second too and I just couldn't get in. When it's running quick down there it's not quite the friend I'm familiar with and particularly without the heads-up of rolling the jack first.
I felt I missed a good opportunity to break the rot when I should have had a strike  

at his big target twosome, but got caught in two minds and instead deluded myself in to thinking I could play the perfect bowl. I had struck earlier and knocked out both of his holding bowls in to the ditch, so I should have had a bit more confidence to go with gut instinct.
Eventually I got pissed off and scooped a bowl off my forefoot and clunked it in to the gutter during a changeover. It got a startled look over the shoulder from Harry.  Petulance, yes, but tension released as I got very close on the next end and then finally I broke Harry's monopoly with a good one. Right or wrong, I needed that little outlet of temperamental twitchiness to disperse the onset of full red mist. In sport, there has always been a fine line I tread of letting off a bit of steam or making a complete dick of myself.

At this point I hear the scores at 18-16, breaking Harry's run just in time before he drew level and then possibly beyond. I just couldn't resist going along the same mark again but now with jack in hand, which clearly makes that big difference. I draw two close ones and Harry's pacey second bowl just whizzes by closely but without connection.
Now all-but, I should've continued on the same mark but summat told me not to push my luck so I went higher and straight peg which proved a bad decision. I wasn't fully comfortable actually, so why rush and play it? Perhaps I was still thinking this as my first bowl pinged too far and ran off the green, then my second was miserably short. Harry's first wasn't great but his second was unnecessarily perfect when just a half decent length would have sufficed.
My lead had shrunk to one again on the next end as Harry rolls two very good ones and my adjustment lets me down.
Just when I needed to roll something good though, I take advantage with a close one in front of the jack. Harry sends his second one a little to the left with his first one and I can carry the mat. Job just about done.
Another hard fought win moves me up to the even dizzier heights of third in the table for the time being. This was my fourth victory from five in the Members League so far and was just as close an encounter as the other three, having now recorded bum-squeaky wins of 21-20, 21-19, 21-18 and 21-19 in that order. I have to pinch myself at how things are going so far in these Wednesday night club showdowns. 

GETTING A GRIP

13/6/22
Chorley & District League Div-3: Eagle & Child 'A' 165-127 Westhoughton
v GRAHAM HURST W 21-11

Our green at the Eagle & Child had become a different animal over the space of a few days. The beginnings of a dry spell of weather, a session with machinery known as a verticutter, followed by some harder mowing than of late and there's a recipe for fast and tricky
I was brought back down to earth in a Sunday afternoon practice game with my original sparring partner Jimmy Sloan. Jimmy can handle it running fast and played very well. I was inconsistent and never got in it, eventually on the wrong end of a 13-21 scoreline.
Old worries about fast greens came back to haunt me, but all I could do was get on there again as soon as possible and face these lingering demons.
I managed to squeeze in a practice session the following afternoon. I had to try something different to restore some faith and confidence that I could cope with a running green ahead of another home league fixture that evening.
I've been here before last year with all this, but didn't quite crack it. Now, with a little more wisdom, I came away from my own rehab session feeling I'd learned something. Just a small adjustment to my grip was making a very big difference.
Yes!! I think I finally get it now when the green is running quick!?... Well, proof would be in the pudding later on when Westhoughton came to town.
Still unbeaten this season, our team lead the table and hosted the second placed outfit with a chance to make more daylight up there.
During pre-match practice it was clear that the findings of my earlier session were no flash in the pan, so I went in to the game feeling quite positive.
I found my length straight away and it was my opponent having trouble with the speed of the green as I went 9-0 up after five ends. Graham can play though and finally got a feel for it with a tidy run of bowling to come back at 9-6.
Not long ago this would have got me hot under the collar, but not these days. I knew I could land one even better than his soon enough and from there I gradually managed to re-establish that initial advantage. Graham played some good stuff at times, but I was pretty solid given the fast conditions and played better than perhaps I needed to and helped the team to a convincing win on the night, stretching our lead at the top to thirteen points. 

BENCHMARK WIN

8/6/22
Eagle Members League Div-1
v AARON HAYHURST W 21-18 (Off 3-3)

It would be self-effacing not to acredit myself the acknowledgement of playing absolutely out of my bloody skin in this latest Members League encounter.
The smidgen of match sharpness lacking two nights previous returned fivefold as I scored a most unlikely and yet fantastic win against Aaron Hayhurst, the brilliant young player who just happens to live next door.
I'd never played as well for a full match, but this was realisation of the flighty belief I could get there.
Pre-match billing was entitled 'Battle of the Neighbours' by Members League chief Steve Wilson, although for me, the 'battle' was simply to try and squeeze out a reasonable score in to the teens perhaps and not to let the young maestro murder me by taking an unassailable early lead.
I've had the privilege of playing a good few practice matches with Aaron and quite often found myself trailing ten or more points behind without really bowling anything particularly badly.
Did I believe I could beat him? In the far back of my mind I refused to accept the idea as impossible, but realistically my thoughts were concentrated on just playing as well as I can and seeing how close I could get. In one of our last practice games back in Spring, I got as close as I ever had when holding two match winners, only for Aaron to knock himself in with sublime intervention. I played very well in that game, so I thought if I can somehow hit that level again then it should avert a tonking at least.
Sticking to pre-members league match form, I went for a pre-match run to enhance competitive drive and stabilise the chemicals of the brain. (Only runners would understand)
Aaron won a sketchy first end, but from then on, the bowling was tight and on hearing the score sounded at seven-across, I had achieved my initial aim of staying in touch and avoiding an early Aaron avalanche.
I was playing very well and to be quite honest was wondering just how long it could last. But I was about to continue on a streak of consistently good bowling like I'd never rolled before.
I built up a scoring run when pegging in front of the visitor's end, putting close leads in as my opponent surprisingly had a wobbly patch and just wasn't getting accurate length at times. I think I pushed up my score to about thirteen before what I considered my first and maybe only tactical error, which was to break this winning cycle by sending the jack much higher up in to the crown. Aaron mopped up a perfect double and I was fearing the oncoming onslaught... until winning the next end... and it was at that point when I really started to believe I might be playing well enough for a chance to win.
I heard I was 14-8 up around this point and Aaron began stretching out to the extreme corners of the green when he got the chance, but I did well to mainly limit him to singles and even pinched in to win a couple of these long chucks. Notably near the entrance corner when I was two down and landed a toucher. That shot was ridiculous and I couldn't quite believe it really. I was glowing inside which made for a wonderfully weird state of calm and confidence that seemed to act as an aneasthetic to the tension that was mounting up.
Aaron snipped away at my lead as expected, but I was still managing to butt in and break up his momentum, whilst at the same time edging closer to the finish line myself.
There might have seemed some audacity at one point when I took him on one of his own favourite marks, but that was just the confidence that I was feeling. I like that mark too, so why not? After three more points off two successful ends there, he pipped me on the third. It proved worth the risk though.
There was understandably a fuzzy recollection of things from here on, until I remember leading 19-18 with Aaron holding possibly two on a mark over the middle of the crown that I'm not always comfortable with. But I stole in with a perfect second bowl that bloody well had to be perfect. Thinking back, I can't believe I played that shot in those circumstances!
As it had been for a good few ends, only Aaron and I remained on the green with quite a few other members staying on to see this match out. As such, from the back middle of the green I had full range of the Eagle & Child turf with jack in hand for the match.
It seemed most sensible to head over to the end of the green where I had earlier built an improbable lead, with a round thumb peg towards the end of the visitors stand. My lead bowl was two yards short but I didn't beat myself up. Aaron then takes a much wider road and his bowl was on it's way until unexpectedly running out of steam. I give my next one a bit more and this time I get there, just inches behind the jack. I walk over and in my periphery I can see Aaron turns over with a bit of pace but was maybe eight inches adrift of disruption and I have to pinch myself. The result and how I played has still not entirely sunk in even a few days later.
This match stands out as a real benchmark for the future. Belief that I can reach another level, but with a further ambition of trying to achieve that level consistently.
I don't think Aaron was 100% on his game at times, but the important thing against good players like this who give little away is to make it count when they do because their blips don't last long. I ticked that box for sure, but overall I didn't do too much wrong really.
Aaron was understandably unhappy, which wasn't pleasant to see as he made a speedy exit. He later explained he'd got a bit caught up in the moment with his extremely competitive nature. In that respect, we can be two peas in a pod.

The win maintains fourth spot for now, with fifth placed Harry Derbyshire on next week's card. 

FINE MARGINS

6/6/22
Chorley & District League Division 3: Eagle & Child 'A' 140-121 Bay Horse 'A' 

v GEOFF MILLIARD L 17-21

Generously, team captain Steve Marginson kept my place despite having missed the big match at Fox Lane the previous week when on my jollies in deepest Ceredigion.
An excellent away win it was too against our neighbours from half a mile down the road to maintain the team's 100% win rate.
A combination of some hard luck and a short break from matchplay felt like the difference on my return to action in a very tight game. The little knocks didn't go my way, the measures didn't either and even on a measure I strongly fancied, my winning bowl inexplicably fell on to it's side and out of contention just before the tape arrived. It was one of those nights.
After a period of playing three matches a week, this was my first in twelve days after coming back from holiday and despite plenty of practice at the weekend,
there was just a lack of a little something special when I needed it. Nothing felt safe against Geoff unless it was very close and failing to go that extra inch or two when it mattered cost me a good few ends.
I didn't play too badly overall and Geoff would have kicked my arse this time last year, but I did also send more duff bowls than of late and as such composure became broken. I felt I was getting the basics wrong at times which is very frustrating, especially after some weeks of playing to a much better standard and thinking I'd ironed out such problems.
It was nevertheless a close contest throughout, but I stumbled to an 8-13 deficit before a bit of a rally on my favourite patch brought things back to 15-17 I recall. Unfortunately though, I didn't match anything near Geoff's consistent standard over the next two ends, leaving my opponent requiring just a single to finish me off.
I came back again to win the next two ends though and started to feel like I still had a sniff. Then holding two with the potential of getting to nineteen with two woods a little short but seeming to block a way through, Geoff kissed off my back bowl, glanced off my first and found a way through to win it by inches. The manner of the deciding point pretty much summed the game up for me.
Bay Horse belied their lowly league position and also gave a few other Eagle players a hard time on our own turf. But boosted by Shell Anderton's convincing win, we won overall on chalks and stay top of Division Three with a third of the season completed.

Practice Matches... v Lee Dalton 13-21, 11-10 (At Penwortham Sports)
The morning earlier, time to take on my old and wonderful pal Lee Dalton in the light rain and skiddy green carpet of Penwortham again. This time though the homester was on it, but similar to the match against Geoff, I played quite well and yet just seemed to get punished. Managed to half avenge the loss in a half game straight after, but threw away a decent lead and only managed to abate his fightback on the last end.