A DEFINING DEFEAT

Thursday 22nd May 2025

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1:

Eagle Blue (148) 2-11 Chorley St Joseph's 'A' (192)
v JON METTERS L 19-21

Initially there was fury, frustration and bitter disappointment with myself having not seen this game out as the winner.
Bowls unceremoniously lobbed on to the grassy area beside our pavilion. (The laurel bush has been heavily pruned so at least I didn't have to root around in any undergrowth to find them) Phil Bradshaw gives me a wry smile and feels my pain.
But as emotions settled maybe five minutes later as I introduced Jon to our extensive selection of beer cans and had a quick chat about the game, I reflected that feeling like this after playing a player of Jon's county calibre meant it wasn't such a bad night's bowling afterall.
Leading 16-9, playing well and feeling confident, one could argue the only errors I had made at this point were not making two a few more times when I had the opportunity.
But when I played a bad end on the same mark that I had messed up earlier on in the match, this time punishment was inflicted. I lost my touch as Jon put the squeeze on me on a mark up and down to the crown from the middle of our clubhouse. Mr Metters played it really well, including three twos as he paired up close bowls to quickly reel in the deficit.
From my point of view, a combination of poor shot choice and distribution only served to bolster my opponent's confidence. Left-handed Jon had me baffled as I just couldn't follow his land or even pick up part of his road and we get to 16-17, which gets the proverbial underside of my collar rather hot.
Finally I broke back and the game was all to play for again.
I retained the impetuous to go 19-18 after some tense ends and should've waited to go where I wanted to go but with only one bowl sent from the match that was obstructing, I changed my mind and decided to get on with it. I regretted that.
When I sent the jack to the tricky far corner instead, I had to wait as another game's jack intervened and was sent back. I should've asked mine to be sent back as well. I regretted that too!
As a result, perhaps, I didn't bowl the best lead and my other one wasn't owt to get excited about either, leaving too much room for Jon to play in to. 19-19.
Then Jon sent a decent second bowl on a curvy round pegger towards the clubhouse, but I was really cross with myself not to beat his less than great lead. Playing a good road in but too deep - wary of being short - a bit of pressure mounted. My second one really was short, resting behind Jon's second counter and excruciatingly giving the game up with two bad bowls when there was a good chance to steal.
Fair play to Jon. I got tensed up and couldn't quite find the groove of earlier in the match to finish him off. He deserved to win it really.
I got myself in a great position at least, so should cling on to that positive.
Life in the first division can be quite brutal and whether or not I can pick up many more wins, I don't feel entirely out of place here and can be competitive. The learning process continues and tonight was a defining defeat. My first home reverse of the season and a hurtful one.
In general I need to increase my resilience, maintain concentration levels at all times, not rush anything and work on staying calm during periods under the cosh. Not much to work on eh?! I'm sure I've listed all that lot before and probably made improvements, but there's still much room to improve further and the aforementioned would contribute to the holy grail I seek which is some consistency.
This was a strong St Joe's side as expected and they adapted brilliantly to our green. This is a team that I fancy for the league title this season.
We could only muster two winners from ten with our younger guns Aaron and Jack picking up a couple of points for us. It should have been three, but for this bear with a sore head slackening his grip on the game.