Thursday 15th May 2025
LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1:
Hoghton (186) 9-3 Eagle Blues (142)
v GARETH WHITTLE L 10-21
The search for a first win on the road this season continues after a sometimes clueless experience on Hoghton's tricky little green.
It feels like a very long way from being a player good enough to find ways of making a game of it in matches like this.
I let myself get worked up over my worst mistakes, which didn't help. Not the complete dummy-spitting bowl-chucking scenario of once upon a time, but just enough to impact distraction and disillusionment about how the game was panning out, rather than simply concentrating on the next bowl.... the next bowl... the next bowl....
It's easier said than done when your opponent was as clearly in charge as Gareth was tonight. A one time quarter-finalist at the Waterloo I was later informed. He showed thorough command of his home green and rarely left much opportunity, adjusting very well when a bowl did slip from standard.
Most of the damage was done on a diagonal mark over the big hump of a crown and with the green running hard, I wasn't getting it at all.
Gareth's hefty 2.12's thumped off with a slight bounce and trickled their way to the target whilst I tended to run up short and over-compensate - or vice versa.
I had a little spell down the left hand side of the green which picked up some points and helped gain double figures, but that was essentially as good as it got.
Drawn another repeat opponent this season having beaten Gareth at home a couple of years ago, it was an entirely different story this evening.
Not much joy for most of my team mates at Hoghton either, but the steady hands of Phil Bradshaw and Nigel Tomlinson picked up good wins with Steve Marginson grabbing a third for us. Three points perhaps not a terrible outcome in the grander scheme at a tough place to visit like Hoghton.
I had a little spell down the left hand side of the green which picked up some points and helped gain double figures, but that was essentially as good as it got.
Drawn another repeat opponent this season having beaten Gareth at home a couple of years ago, it was an entirely different story this evening.
Not much joy for most of my team mates at Hoghton either, but the steady hands of Phil Bradshaw and Nigel Tomlinson picked up good wins with Steve Marginson grabbing a third for us. Three points perhaps not a terrible outcome in the grander scheme at a tough place to visit like Hoghton.
No comments:
Post a Comment