SLOPPY MISTAKES PROVE COSTLY

Thursday 28th September 2023
SABDEN FLOODLIT SINGLES
First Qualifying Round
v BYROM OATES (Blackburn) L 18-21

Having made a decent account of myself here last year, I was always going to come back for more at this cracking little club beneath Pendle's shadows.
Something just wasn't quite clicking tonight though, whether mentally worn out by the euphoria of a certain doubles match the previous evenings or the usual excuse of rushing over here straight from work, perhaps even stuck in a rut of resignation that I only turn up for such occasions to go out in the first round anyway?... Who knows, but I just wasn't as switched on as I should have been.
I know so because the competitive fires didn't blaze when I made sloppy mistakes. I should have been fuming with myself, but wry smiles and shoulder shrugs of mild disappointment were the order of the evening. No bad thing, for I've been trying hard not to flip my lid since those moments of Mid-Summer madness, but I still need an edge about me and it just wasn't there.
Young Byrom was a decent player and I'd be surprised if he didn't know this green better than I did. It took a few ends to suss out his left handed delivery which seemed to sweep across himself and this lefty was a difficult one to follow for this particular righty.
Having lost the first four ends to trail 0-6 and Byrom cutting little slack, I finally landed one and put a decent run together to come back and lead 8-6.
I broke my own momentum at this point with a foolish jack placement that I struggled with and cheaply conceded my lead. This lifted Byrom and he started to pull away by four or five until I had another little run to come back to 16-17. Once again I sent the jack further than I intended, down the sloping corner at the clubhouse end and didn't learn from my poorly judged and overshot first bowl as my second trickled away to join the other.

Byrom's winner wasn't that near either, but he won it on weight. He sends us across the clubhouse and lands a perfect front toucher. I try to send a saver but my land was too high. Byrom then sends another great wood, but disturbs his first which actually gives me a great chance and a target if I can tap onto something, but once again I inexplicably pushed my wood too high and I really was a bit annoyed with myself there. An opportunity spurned and now trailing 16-20, I felt I'd basically chucked my chances away.

Byrom leads out well again with a near toucher and had every right to expect that to be the winner. But I was very close with my first, so sent the second bowl down the same road with more pace and it was a hell of a match saving shot, knocking Byrom's out cleanly and leaving myself two.
Even then though, it didn't give me a fist-pumping lift for some reason. I should've been buzzing and focused on ceasing the moment. Instead, I rush things without thinking properly and once again sent that jack too far and towards the clubhouse side. This time I didn't reach, my best bowl was a ridiculous yard and a half away. Byrom also succumbed to going short with his first, but as I fully expected, found good length with his second to finally win it.
Disappointed because my opponent did give me chances here but I didn't take them. Byrom probably struggled to work me out, my game flickered from good to bad throughout and ultimately the bad cost me a real chance of making a bit of progress.
He won his second round match by the same score before going down to one of the evening's favourites for qualification on the deciding third round.
I really need to find an edge going in to the last bit of singles action of the year at Longridge next week. I'm not consistent enough for this level and I know this, but I can do a bit better in these competitions if I can at least have a bit more belief and turn up with the right head screwed on.