IAN'S ARM JUST TOO STRONG

 Thursday 1st May 2025

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1:

New Longton 'A' v Eagle Blue (Result yet to be confirmed)
v IAN ARMSTRONG L 8-21? or L 9-21? or 7-15... to be continued?

With the bizarre distinction of there being no conclusion to this match on the night due to the uncertainty about the final score of my game (more about that further down the page) the one thing that was certain is that Ian Armstrong is a very good player indeed.
This was my sixth visit to Windsor Avenue and after a particularly good show here last year, I was confident of putting in a good performance, which is imperative to have any chance away from home in this division.
The performance box was ticked, but up against the almost faultless quality of the home bowler, what felt like a close game end to end was not the story that correlated on the scorecard.
A sloppy first end let Ian in and although limiting him to mainly singles, it was probably seven ends in before I managed to score and yet I was getting up there and happy with the way I was playing. When I did get in, my leads just weren't quite tight enough against this chap and the slightest lapse was punished.
Two nice bowls looked to have pushed me in to double figures, but again I was thwarted by a simply world class wood when many a player would have chosen to strike instead. The next end, which proved to be the penultimate one, epitomised the additional lack of good fortune that had denied me all evening. Ian would have beaten me anyway, but it was one of those games when I didn't get a single knock going my way and when I sent a lovely pacey bowl right on course to hit either of Ian's two tightly nestled bowls or the jack sandwiched in the middle, somehow room was found to glance the jack a bit thin and a whisker off two to me remained two to Ian. I couldn't believe it and instinctively sank to my knees - Lady Luck had been that harsh and I had been at her mercy all evening.
Sadly I messed the next end up when I should have at least saved one and that was game. *(Or was it?)
Although I hadn't heard of Ian Armstrong before I was thoroughly impressed by his game on there. I was intensely squeezed out of this match, despite keeping up a decent standard myself. It would turn out Ian is one of a few bowlers from Blackburn way that have signed up for New Longton's first team and I wasn't surprised to hear that he's of County player pedigree.

*CONFLICTING SCORECARDS SET UP POSSIBLE PARTIAL REMATCH
The whole match went to the wire and the scorecards from my match unfortunately didn't match up.
Normally this sort of issue would be easily resolved, but with aggregate scores between the teams so close, the conflicting cards were the difference between the aggregate points for New Longton or drawing level to share them.
The home side's card had my match one end fewer and at 8-21, whilst ours read 9-21. When hiccups occur with scoring, it would be most unusual to mistakenly add an extra end. The problem normally stems from a missed one.
Team captain Aaron had my card and I trust him 100%. I know he would have the integrity to back down had he thought he could have missed an end, or in this case created an extra one. In Aaron's defence, the New Longton scorer had already previously missed a couple of ends during the match and that starts to paint it's own picture of the likelihood of what happened.
But there's no proof and as expected perhaps, their captain stands by his man and particularly when crucial points are at stake.
As such, to resolve the match we have a possibly unprecedented situation where Ian and I meet again at New Longton. We would start from the score of 7-15 when one of the cards went Frenkie de Jong.
Effectively a shoot-out then, in which I need to score two before Ian gets to six to confirm the result I believe is owed to us, or an additional opportunity to actually win the aggregate outright if I can get three.
Ian is such a bloody good player it's a hell of a tough task, but with shades of Kevin Keegan's wonderful and emotional outburst as Newcastle United manager in 1996, "I only need three points and I'm tellin' ya now, I'd LOVE IT if we beat THEM!"