LUCK RUNS OUT AFTER ANOTHER LONG SLOG

Tuesday 24th September 2024

TIM ROBINSON AUTUMN FLOODLIT DOUBLES

SEMI-FINALS
Paired with PETER BYLINSKI
v MALCOLM JONES & STEVE MARGINSON
L 28-31 (off 5-6)

Another slog that touched the two hour mark, but this time Peter and I couldn't quite get over the winning line.
We were drawn against probably the toughest pairing in the last four based on all round experience in Malc and Steve.
Mr Jones not the top class force he once was, but still crafty and still capable. Steve plays in all three of our club's 'A' teams, so not really any weak links to pick at. 
After a promising start, our opponents came back and it became clear Malc was having a steady game up front and got stronger as the game went on. He worked out what Peter and I weren't best at coping with, which were staight, short marks over the top of the crown and often landed a good lead to put the pressure on.
After sending some poor ends earlier on, I got myself all grumpy and tensed up which is not condusive to either thinking or playing the game rationally. I should know by now.
But Peter was also driving me slightly up the wall at times, poor hearing or not, there seemed to be no interest in hearing my advice or instructions and rather a haste to just send his bowl up regardless of the situation. Mr Bylinski's maverick side was difficult to tame this evening!
Perhaps I should have swapped around with him, but we were just about holding in there as the scores pushed beyond twenty so I figured we should stay as we are and try and somehow scrap our way to thirty-one first.
Staying as we were was then solidified by a moment of Peter's maverick magnificence. After going four chalks down and recovering to 23-25, I sent two exceedingly frustrating shorties. Malc and Steve made two before Peter steamrollered in to knock mine up and with a kiss here and a knick there he found us a three.
We then continued this good spell to go 28-25 after I sent two nice ones in front of the clubhouse. Perhaps I should have gone back across - I'll never know - but instead went long towards the opposite corner and in fairness I put two good ones up so can't have any regrets. Steve's first bowl from the back was splendid though, taking a little bit of assistance off my first one and rolling up against the jack. A game changer with Malc on the block again and a few ends later we were all square.
Peter somehow saving the match glancing one of my wide bowls in to play to reduce a four down to a two, but the two cooler heads of our opponents were back in charge.
On the last end to save the match, I tapped the jack up with my second bowl but with just a bit too much on it, opening up a couple of feet behind it in which Steve perfectly sat his first bowl in to. Peter didn't get so lucky this time with his last bowl and we were done.
There was that little window of opportunity where this match could have gone our way, but I think Malc and Steve deserved to win it overall. Peter and I had run out of luck by the last few ends. 
Peter apologises profusely for letting me down, when really, aside from his unwillingness to bloody well listen to me, it was ultimately my fault we lost. I didn't play well enough and allowed frustration to lose my concentration at various points of the match. We did well to make it to the last four. 

In the final, Malcolm and Steve made another tight match of it against Geoff Bibby and Ronnie Roberts, but it was the latter who prevailed by a 31-28 margin. 

PETER PICKS THEM OUT FROM THE BACK

Monday 23rd September 2024

TIM ROBINSON AUTUMN FLOODLIT DOUBLES

QUARTER FINALS

Paired with PETER BYLINSKI
v TERRY GRAYSTON & HENRY HOYLES W 31-21 (off 6-5)

As expected, this was another tight doubles match in which neither pair could shake off the other for the first twenty ends with the scores standing at 17-17.
Just prior to that, I felt the threat of young Henry getting too comfortable with the block, which I remember him doing against Barry and I with great effect in last year's final. This prompted our decision to swap around and whilst it took me a few ends to settle up front, Peter's performance instantly stepped up another notch from the back and he delivered probably half a dozen absolutely perfect winners that undoubtedly made the difference.
Whilst still at a stalemate, it was a bowl from Peter that completely turned the game on it's head. Terry and Henry were holding a well weighted foursome as our first three bowls had all shot through by a yard or more. Instructions to Peter for his second bowl, "Four down. Take a bit of umph out and get amongst them, see what you can save..."
I nip over to my bag for a more waterproof top as the rain came back and look across to see Peter's bowl flying. "Holy shit", I mutter.
Then I hear that beautifully pitched "clack" of a bowl hitting the jack full on and sure enough he's only gone and knocked the target bowl and followed through for an incredible four to us! An eight point swing in one end. A real game changer.
It was rebellious genius from Peter.
Momentum then carried us to 28-21 and lying two when further bad fortune for our opponents saw Tez sending a perfectly aimed weighty bowl to smash things up, which he did, only for everything to settle and now counting three for us. That suddenly tipped us over the line to win.
We're in the semi-finals tomorrow night.
Can we do it? Anything can happen with Mr Bylinski. 

GOOD NIGHT AT SABDEN CASTS DOUBTS ASIDE FOR NOW

Tuesday 17th September 2024

SABDEN FLOODLIT SINGLES

At Sabden Bowling Club
FIRST ROUND QUALIFIER
v PAUL CULLEY (St Helens) W 21-20

After what seemed a longer than usual day at work - a particularly arduous affair sucking the very life out of me - I had a fifty minute drive to the back shadows of Pendle to rid myself of low esteem and convince myself I was actually a worthwhile living creature who could also play a good game of bowls.
Playing well was the absolute priority here. To give someone a game and not leave another singles competition having not played as well as I can.
Thankfully, I settled down quickly and was playing well enough to give myself a chance. A close opening against my first round draw suggested a tight game could be on the cards, which it was in the end, but not before I had a couple of good breaks on shortish round pegs and looked to have put myself on the way to victory at 18-11.
Literally though, when the sun dipped down behind the dark silhouette of the ridge upon Wiswell Moor, I sent a couple of short ones as the green seemed to stiffen up in an instant. I broke back straight away to hit nineteen, but sent yet another short lead to give my opponent another chance.
Paul came back really well, he was dangerous with the block all match and put up good leads and he continued to do so on long marks which are that bit harder to better. I kept knocking on the door, but Paul kept putting the lead up and we ended up 19-20 with one bowl left in my hand to save the match.
The St Helens man left a gap of about a yard for once and with the help of a little nick off his counter, I levelled the match with a big, big bowl.
From there, a round peg down the side of the green towards the scoreboards was just the tonic and I put two good ones up, leaving Paul to strike that thankfully didn't hit anything.
I did it the hard way but I kept my cool and thought I just about deserved the win really over the course of the game.


SECOND ROUND QUALIFIER
v SARAH EDMONDSON (Clitheroe) W 21-14

Next up Sarah Edmundson. I'd already heard of Sarah and even saw her playing recently at the Brownedge Classic where she made the quarter-finals. I was in awe and got myself nervous.
This made for an edgy start with Sarah taking the first four ends but at least I was keeping her down to singles. Once I got in and won an end though, the nerves subsided, I started gaining confidence and rattling up the scores too.
There was a diagonal mark where I got myself in to a good lead, until, unhappy at not getting a correct length at one end (although still picking the points up) I unwisely changed tact and allowed Sarah to show her round pegging quality. A move which she rightly questioned me about after the match.
Despite breaking my own winning streak and Sarah making a concerted effort to close the scores in, I managed to break back and then matched her bowls for the remainder of the match to sustain a decent lead.
There was a point where I remember glancing across at the scoreboard which read something like 16-9 and I couldn't quite believe it. But, having let a very healthy position slip in the first match I was adamant on keeping a firm grip in this one.
Sarah took the same measures as my previous opponent and decided to stretch me out to long marks. Again though, I managed to keep her to singles or steal in. My long game is improving, I think this evening as a whole proved that.
Key moments proved to be an end where I was lucky (or just brilliant?) to stay on and accompany the jack clinging on to greenside when all I had to do was pass Sarah's bowl. The penultimate end was also satisfying when Sarah didn't quite hit the mark she set from corner to corner and I stuck two very good ones up with great timing to solder my intentions of seeing out the match.
This win against Sarah was probably my biggest scalp to date. Another green, another day and it might have gone the other way but I think I was good again for the win and managed to pass the second round stage of a competition for the first time.
Coupe, Ditchfield and Wraight won't be quaking in their boots at that statistic, but it's a little landmark for me and more importantly a reinstated belief that I'm not completely out of place in this environment and should, as I have stubbornly pursued in spite of continuous doubts, carry on entering these things from time to time.


THIRD ROUND QUALIFIER
v COLIN CRAWFORD (Darwen) L 7-21

Note to self if I do manage to get to a third round qualifier again, that even having just left the green after winning your second match doesn't automatically mean one is going to carry on playing well.
In hindsight maybe I should've asked for five minutes, fetched Sarah a cup of tea and gathered my thoughts. But I was happy to get on with it and didn't want to hold up the organisers either. So I handed Sarah a quid for the tea and got back on the green as Colin's trademark quick strides and long rag dangling from his saggy trousered waistline approached.
I've played against Colin in Winter League doubles, but he's an even more savage beast in singles it would seem and particularly on this green at Sabden.
Having won the toss, I put two good ones up straight away and fancied them. But Colin drew a brilliant dead length bowl right between them and that sort of set the tone for the rest of the match.
That said, I was sloppy for the next few ends. Short, narrow, over the top, all the things you can't be and this is where the game began to get away from me quite early on. A few cheap points conceded and 0-8 down before Mr Crawford even reached top gear.
I had at least started to get amongst Colin's bowls a bit more, but by then his gears were shifting and he was sending belter after belter on an inconspicuous mark across the middle of the green that caught me out. This also forced mistakes, wrong shot choices and Colin's class saw the score roll out to a merciless 1-19. I've never been 1-19 before. It's scary.
When I finally broke the rot with what had to be a perfect bowl, Colin finally left me room for a straightforward two after that and I relaxed a bit and put a few more points together, but even then, like when sending a pearler under the inside of his holding blocker to tap the jack up to my back bowl, he landed another dead lengther to limit me to a tight single.
That said, I still dared delusions of double-figures grandeur, but I missed a good opportunity on the next end round pegging to a corner, unable to better my first by enough and leaving Colin with a couple of feet to ease in to and confirm the inevitable win.
The plan was to then throw a long corner to corner bowl and see what happened. I suspect that wouldn't have caught him out either. Colin played very well, shut me down and put me in my place after an otherwise enjoyable and encouraging evening.
My opponent was absolute full value for his place in Finals Day and on this form will be a tough nut to crack. When I asked Colin about his mastery of the green - sometimes looking narrow or wide but still getting there - he said he's played Sabden a good few times and even beaten the mighty Callum Wraight on here. No bigger feather in any bowlers cap.
If I didn't know much about Colin Crawford on cold and dark nights at Fox Lane when he's bowling for the Olive Park Greens team, I certainly do now.
This was my third year at the Sabden singles and I have to give chief organiser Maggie a mention, and her team of helpers, for an always fantastic night's bowling. Pie and peas on in the clubhouse too for hungry buggers like me, straight from work who missed their tea. Perfect.

BURNLEY FAN CLUB
My purely coincidental attire of sky blue tee and claret shorts in the Burnley district seemed to attract the attention of a couple spectating.
I got chatting to them before practice and then sent two perfect woods up straight away, "My money's on you!", they said. It was a laugh. I'd just been playing myself down to them, or should I say, being wholly realistic about my chances.
They stuck around to the finish and kept an eye on my progress. Little did I know I would actually make progress and still be there at the finish.
Barry and Susan Hunter have taken the game up in the last couple of years at the Queen's Park club in Burnley. A big thank you to them for their interest and support. It was very nice to have acquired a small fan club for the evening!

ONE WOOD WONDERS

Thursday 12th September 2024

TIM ROBINSON AUTUMN FLOODLIT DOUBLES

FIRST ROUND
Partnered with PETER BYLINSKI
v PHIL DONNELLY & JACK DICKINSON W 31-29 (off 6-5)

Drawn with a doubles partner I thought I'd never met, it suddenly and randomly dawned on me during a run the night before our game who Peter Bylinski might actually be. I think I met him at the green when practicing a couple of times last year. 
With a surname like Bylinski, I couldn't resist re-introducing myself to Peter with a premeditated dialogue in New York cop drawl, which went a bit like this...
"Heey! ByLINski! Dey tell me yaw my noo pawatner?"
His reaction was difficult to assess, I think confusion with a graceful sympathy might sum it up. Having processed what I was actually saying though, Peter seemed pleased enough we were paired up together.
This match turned out to be a slow scoring, churned out affair with neither pair getting more than a few ahead at any one time.
Our scorer Colin Proctor had given up free time to mark a card and got the short straw with us lot. Colin rightfully dishing out some grief, pointing out only ten chalks scored between us off the first forty woods sent, then regularly updating us with similarly dire statistics.
With nights drawing in and getting a bit chilly, I mentioned to Col it was a good job he brought his jacket and the reply was prompt, "Jacket? I should've brought my f*ckin' sleepin' bag!"
As a Blackburn Rovers supporter though, Colin will have endured many a grim ninety minutes, but this match ended up breaking the two hour mark before it's conclusion - even with both pairs starting off five and six.
For a long period, the beautiful evening sky of luminous blue and burning ambers reflecting off multiple cloud levels with contrasting tones and hues was easily more of a spectacle than what was before us at ground level and absorbed much more of my attention for a while. But when the sun set and the floodlights came on, this game had continued to nip and tuck it's way to 23-21 in our favour. It was time to find a way to win.
Prior to this deciding phase, Peter and I couldn't put two good ones together and when Peter did, I really should've made it a three but was short, as I was too many times which had me apologising to the spectating Hoyles family once again for some blue language. 
Phil and Jack scored a proper three around this time, by far the best played end of the match.
It was difficult to get in to a rythym, but to my own credit I did send maybe half a dozen crackers when we really needed them which in accumulation kept us in the match. 

Not particularly a point winner, but a saver sticks out in my mind when they had a close cluster of four and had blocked the way in on a long straight mark, but I found a length bowl on the outside to save three.
Peter's bowling can be a touch unpredictable, but he can send some good ones up when he gets his delivery right. He's a lively and chatty character and had a spell loudly counting our woods in like the countdown of a wrestling match. He didn't mean harm but it's not exactly green etiquette and was actually putting me off my shots, never mind anyone else on the green!
That, and his continuous commentary seemed to get under Phil's skin a bit. Phil Donnelly is very much a gentleman, but losing patience with my partner, he let rip, "Just f*ck off Peter and send your f*ckin' bowl!"
Jack and I were cackling away behind and it still makes me laugh out loud now when I recall it.
Despite our opponents nudging ahead towards the finish, Peter and I kept in touch. I went up front for a bit but didn't make much difference and then Peter put some good lead bowls out just when we needed them.
At 29-29, Jack's bowls are lying game but again I found one when I absolutely needed it, full length down the nearside of the green. I then asked Peter if I could swap again and take responsibility to put a decent lead up and give us a chance to see the game out. Fortunately I delivered with two decent efforts to the far corner. Peter put another up close for good measure. Not unbeatable though as I had to hold my breathe as Jack just missed interference by a whisker with both his woods and we survived to sneak the win. 
Phil led out very well and showed his knowledge of the green with some great turning over of peg, whilst Jack, who has been struggling for form of late, didn't have a bad game by any stretch and was dangerous at the back. That said, Peter and I stuck with them and somehow got over the winning threshold first. It felt to me like our opponents had both played much better overall, but if bowls is a funny old game, doubles is even funnier.
Having been lucky enough to win this club competition with Barry Wright last year, it's going to be a challenging task to get in to a potentially similar position this time around. Barry was the experienced steady head in our partnership last year, whilst Peter and I are less seasoned in the game and both far less emotionally introvert, shall we say.
I feel we can both play better than we did tonight though and if we do, there's always a chance of progressing further. 

DISMANTLED BY DEDRIE

Thursday 29th August 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-3: Eagle Reds 145-203 Hoole Village Hall 'B'

v JOHN DEDRIE L 13-21

John Dedrie belied a patchy season in this division by his standards and dismantled everything I chucked at him in this final match of the season. The Hoole bowler seemed to save the best until last.
I didn't start the game well mind you, John's steady bowls were consistently good but beatable in my view, however length, land or both were frustratingly evasive as I suffered towards a 1-10 deficit.  Despite a much better season all round this year, on the occasion I've got off to a bad start, I haven't done it by half measures and particularly on home soil.
I did start to get my game together and went about finding a way back in to the contest, but John found another level and three ends in particular made the difference with incredible, perfect bowls put up as my best efforts weren't enough.
A lovely two, with one guarding the other looked at least a single no matter what, but John found a way in somehow, tapping my closest and stealing in. Even my scorer Jimmy Sloan gasped in disbelief.
Regardless, having still recovered to trail by just four, I had a round pegged toucher up in front of the clubhouse, should have made it two but overran and yet again, John tapped them up and rolled over nearest the target. A real sucker punch at that stage.
A few ends later, having tried to chuck John long, a decent lead bowl a couple of feet behind looked good enough. Regretfully, I should've gone in again but was fearful of knocking John's first one up so I turned over peg but didn't quite make the distance. John has to land something inch perfect to take the end and by now there was an air of inevitability that he would do, resting on the jack in front of his purring teammates in the visitors end.
I didn't help myself next end, possibly being greedy going for two in a close cluster but trying desperately to ignite some momentum. I was barely an inch over and glanced the wrong side of the jack to knock my opponent in.
At this point, the most remarkable thing to leave my right hand all night was the mat, which I flicked high in to the air in utter disbelief at that previous end. Amazingly, it cut in to the greenside and landed upright! A rubber disc making a two inch incision in to turf is surely an extremely rare event. For starters, not many plonkers whizz the mat like that. I'm just grateful it landed far from any tender human tissue in attendance. 
John played very well and thoroughly deserved the win. He pointed out afterwards at being keen to make a good start having thrown a few games this season by giving silly leads away. Me and him both, but John's way certainly prevailed this evening.

TERRY-BLE PIES JUST TIP OF THE ICEBERG 
A couple of beers had in the pub across the road to mark the league season's end, our team with only two winners at home finishing the season with a bump. The rawness of my own defeat soothed by sips of chilled San Miguel.
Season ticket holder Terry Grayston begins to discuss all things Preston North End as I find myself sat in on an unofficial Lilywhites fan club discussion.
Terry ridicules the terrible £3.75 pies at Deepdale. But as the second pint went down, bold claims that North End could finish top six in the championship were muted.

Hmmm?

Then again, what do I know? I've lost football, or at least professional football has lost me over the last couple of decades with the exception of following Dunfermline Athletic. 

The evolution of legitimised cheating by means of players feigning injury and diving has mainly ruined it for me. Players are even being trained how to "go down" these days. It's actually quite pathetic.
When you compare how both professional rugby codes still go about their business on the pitch, football has lost much of it's integrity.
I've heard a quote from various sources, that "Footballers spend ninety minutes pretending they are hurt, whilst rugby players spend eighty minutes pretending that they're not." That pretty much sums it up.
I was barely investing much interest in the game anyway, when there was a final straw moment earlier this year. The ridiculous VAR decision that denied Coventry City a place in the FA Cup Final was absolutely it. If being 'level' is ONside, how in the name of sanity can a player be judged a mere toenail OFFside over the horizontal expanse of fifty-odd yards and from a frame frozen by one hundredth of a highly dubiously selected second??
What an absolute pile of utter nonsense. It's not even sport anymore.
It costs a load of money to watch (even in your armchair at home) club owners are self-interested and unaccountable, governing bodies make incomprehensible decisions and even the pies are crap as verified by Tez... I could go on all day. Even modern stadiums are generally a soulless clone of each other and why the hell have we got generic box nets at every ground? What ever happened to a good old hooked stanchion in the top corner? (Or should that be "top bins?" - Don't get me started on that either!)

I understand what being a football supporter is about and the loyalty and love felt for a club, I was a proper supporter once and yes, the pies were still rubbish, but the game was more affordable and fairytales could happen - fairytales were allowed to happen.

I digress somewhat.
I only popped in for a pint!

UP THE WALL BUT DID WELL TO WIN

Monday 26th August 2024

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2:

Hilltops 'B' 157-137 Eagle & Child 'A'
v HAROLD DYSON W 21-18

Up at Blackrod for the last Chorley league match just like last year, less at stake for the team this time and a slightly more successful evening all round on the tricky green of Hilltops Social Club.
I seemed to have a better feel for it on this second visit and Harold wasn't posing too much of a threat. I think I heard something like 11-3 called between the scorers after ten ends and whilst chickens weren't being counted, I seemed in control of the game and playing well enough to see it out.
That was, until Harold had me up against the wall. The long stretch along the wall at the far side of the green where the marks are tricky, playing against peg in an area of the green where you wouldn't expect it.
The first visit there proved costly. If Harold was something of a one-trick pony along the wall end, it was a trick he was very good at. Eight points were conceded in five ends and we were level. My escape from there was shortlived, one down next end and back we went to the corner, conceding another single and I was up the wall again. I found a couple of savers but the match was getting critically beyond me down there as I now trailed 14-18, until I finally sent a cracker when Harold left me just enough room for once.
Then I picked up a double on the next end and was back in the game and starting to play as well as I had all match, claiming a couple of close singles to level the score.
With the green to ourselves now, I risked the far corner again and heard one of their lot mutter, "That's brave", as the jack rested up. But I played it really well with a perfect lead and one a few inches behind for back up. Harold, who had struck with effect earlier in the game, was only inches off hitting my back bowl but it stood and I'd reversed the scores to 20-18.
I go somewhere different, a bit longer and just run over by a yard as the green slopes off the crown. Harold was a bit narrow but looks on, due to better length.
I take a bit out of my second and find the right road again. As it approaches, I hear our own Keith Anderton say, "This is a cracking bowl, this..." and I rested assured, Keith knows these things and sure enough I gently tap the jack up.
Harold had to have a go and splatted bowls everywhere. I'm not sure what happened exactly, he was perhaps a shade unlucky but I was still on and that's all that mattered to me.
Chuffed with the way I saw out the game and didn't get myself too flustered after squandering a good lead.
It's been a season of consolidation for this team in Chorley & District's second tier. Almost promoted to the top flight last year, the loss of key players and some nights down to the bare bone availability of eight players, managing to stay in the division was a suitable outcome all things considered. On the plus side, the squad strengthened now by the acquisitions of Matt and Henry Hoyles.  

A LESSON FROM THE GENTLEMAN

Friday 23rd August 2024

FARINGTON OPEN SINGLES

At Farington Bowling Club (Formerly Farington Cons)
First Round Qualifier
v JOHN HANSON L 12-21

It wasn't actually a cunning preconceived plan, but as it turned out I thought it might work perfectly that a league match on the Farington green preceded the following night for the Farington Open. But, as already once stated somewhere in this mass of diarist dribble, "thought followed a mud cart and thought it was a wedding".
Same green only twenty-four hours later, but nowhere near the same level of performance.
I was drawn a familiar name to me, the grand gentleman of Lancashire crown green bowling that is John Hanson. As a regular entrant to his floodlit competitions at Longridge Cons, he very politely recruited me for the Autumn one as we were shaking hands to play.
I've never seen John bowl and I couldn't see him around the green either which I found strange given we were in the first half of the draw. It turned out John had been delayed and so our game was played an hour later. Whilst he had the misfortune of missing practice, I missed the opportunity to keep momentum from not only the practice rolls, but momentum from what had been a crazy full-on day at work. It did me no favours having to hang around to go on and the yawns set in.
I remember moaning about rushing home from a busy Friday at work here last year and it not being ideal. Perhaps I should take heed of my own written notes from time to time. It didn't work rushing around for a second night in succession, that's for sure. 
I'm not convinced that's a valid excuse as such, for the reality is that I'm the black sheep in the draw at these events. Not yet ready, not yet good enough.
I can raise my game sometimes and but the concentration levels need to be razor sharp and that requires the perfect storm of feeling mentally fresh and generally relaxed.
I played the first couple of ends out well but then became a shadow of the previous evening. John progressed in to a healthy lead, down to his own good woods of course, but a few cheap twos from my point of view where I really ought to have bowled a saver.
I couldn't keep the block for more than an end, my lead bowling was mainly poor and it wasn't so much the score or the result that left me flat after this match - for John is a bowler of much better calibre - but it was the manner of defeat and the way I played. Just very disappointing.
John played very well and a measure of his game on the night was that he then progressed to finals night, qualifying with a close victory over Dave Worthington. That said, there were some opportunities in the game to run my opponent closer but I blew up at a singles competition yet again and came away with tail between the legs. I know I can play much better in this environment, but despite early season promise, I've just not been able to put in a solid game of bowls that I'm satisfied with and one that tests the level of opponents that I face at these sort of contests. 

NO COMPLAINTS

Thursday 22nd August 2024

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-3: Farington BC 'A' 206-145 Eagle Reds

v JOHN FRODSHAM L 16-21

I was expecting to get Farington's regular number ten of this season and sure enough that was the case. I've seen John play before and knew he would a very difficult match, especially on his home green.
John seemed to carry on from where Nigel left me last Sunday with great leads putting me under the cosh, but unlike Sunday I was getting stuck in and making sure Mr Frodsham didn't have it all his own way.
An early attempt to reel the deficit in with two lovely bowls towards the scoreboard corner was smashed out by the home bowler who made two for himself. It was a quality strike and I had started to think it was one of those nights. I was playing alright but not looking likely to get double figures with John in this sort of form.
I don't suffer too many long periods unable to get the jack back these days and it's about making it count when I do. In this match I tried some shorter marks away from the green edges and with some success as I battled back in to the game at 13-14.
A couple of careless ends on my part followed though, pegged back again to 13-17 with momentum handed to my opponent.
I clinged on some ends longer but just didn't have the extra bit of class required to close him in again.
John was a handful with the block all night with cracking leads and I can't complain to myself, it was a good game, probably the
best I've played on this green in my seven or eight appearances here and I took satisfaction from at least making John work for his win.
Farington took nine winners on the night, but as John pointed out the night after when I saw him again, his team's promotion rivals Victoria and Ashton also bagged nine so nothing gained going in to the last game of the season.