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.