WINNING STREAK CONTINUES

Thursday 26th June 2025

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1:

Penwortham Sports 'A' (189) 9-3 Eagle Blue (172)
v PAUL JACKSON W 21-13

For the first seven ends at least, I was unstoppable. Fourteen bowls of pure satisfaction, eleven points and one hell of a start for what on paper looked a difficult game - as any draw would be against Penwortham's cream of the crop.
I turned up here fearing nobody though, with no other aim than continuing good form and making a game of it.
I've never quite started a match with such consistently fine woods, but it's been coming and showed scope for further improvement. I feel I am making strides quite quickly just now.
At about 6-0, my opponent stole in with a super bowl but I put a bit more in and knocked him out again. I could do little wrong.
At 11-0 though, eventually a little narrow and less than fantastic efforts let Paul in for two. He sends another two good ones, I send two shorties and then concede a third successive two to hear the scores at 11-6 on the tenth end.
He sends us back to the far side where the green drops off again and this time I reach up and adjusting land correctly with my second bowl to stop fears of a rot.
I couldn't quite hit the standard set earlier on again, at least not with any consistency, but I was finding enough good bowls at the right time to keep some distance on the scorecard.
I sent two memorable pearlers to reach twenty and all but, nudging out Paul's good lead and then turning over peg to avoid damage, I managed to even better my first bowl. That moment really felt like I had stamped my mark on the game.
Much to my annoyance though, a poor lead gives a good opportunity for Paul to get back in who then put the squeeze on me for a few more ends until suprisingly sending two wayward ones. It wasn't a pretty end at all until I managed to sneak past my first short bowl and rest beside the jack.
Breaking some modest personal records, that was five victories in a row now over all competitions (seven out of eight) and also a fifth consecutive away success.
It was also three on the spin in the Leyland & District, showing signs of an increasing resolve in the Division One environment.
Winning is a good habit. The walls will crash down at some point no doubt, this is a game that bites your legs when you least expect it. But just now I feel very confident and playing as well as I ever have.
One of three winners for our team on the night, three points was a reasonable take but some close games could have gone our way to score a vital couple more, notably Steve Marginson taking a Fleetwood Festival runner-up, Gary Cochrane, to the wire on the last end but losing out.
Team captain Aaron survived a comeback against silky left-hander Stephen Holmes though, whilst Geoff Bibby has got himself back to winning ways. We shared the sweep after his excellent 21-13 win over Callum Foster, who he beat here just two nights earlier in the Preston League as well. 

BOWLS AS GOOD AS THE MAT!

Monday 23rd June 2025

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2:

Bretherton 'A' (141) 7-3 Eagle & Child 'A' (128)
v JOHN SENIOR W 21-10

I sensed our fifteen minutes of practice was up for games to get started and rushed my last two rolls which were both yards off. I chucked the mat towards the starting area and hear, "You throw a mat much better than your bowls!".
Thinking to myself, "Who the frig's that?", I calmly look over towards the mystery mouthpiece who didn't even grant me the courtesy of eye contact. A bit rude.
Maybe I shouldn't have taken it personally, but then again why not? As our Vernon says in his beautifully broad Lancastrian tones, "It's war aht theer!" and it would soon transpire that this chap was to be my opponent a little later on... red rag to a bull!
I was feeling confident anyway on this green and John's unfiltered comment served only to make me even more determined to get another win here.
My leads could have been better earlier on but my second bowl often made up for it.
A good two to start was followed by a total mess of the next end, but after a couple more jousts going either way I settled down and heard the scores at a commanding 12-5.
John wasn't doing too much wrong to be fair. He was mainly on the land throughout the match and was a reacher, never afraid to send his woods far enough and that made him a danger. A few times he did spoil my good work, but I had a habit of spoiling his. Probably half a dozen times beating one of his best with something even better.
At 17-7 and dangerously perhaps, I couldn't foresee a way I could lose because of the way I was playing and especially when once again sending a sensational winner when John had every right to think he had done enough.
Unlike my last match, everything was in synch tonight. Not everything was perfect of course and John played a good game, but even after an excellent lead on a mark he played earlier I put two closer ones up to seal the win in very satisfactory fashion.
There was air of confidence about my bowling and I think that resonated as the game went on and, importantly, I did prove to Mr Senior that I can throw some bowls just as well as the mat!
I had some good practice matches with Nigel the previous day, playing through puddles to begin with after a hefty summer shower. Nige had got in my head since murdering me in last year's President's Day semi and I've rarely beat him in practice either, but I'm currently on a mind-bending five wins on the trot against Mr Tomlinson. He hasn't read my bowling diaries, better things to do I expect, but he did say he expected a mention after the tide has been turning. So there it is!
Getting tonked by Sutton didn't do Nige any harm though, continuing recent good form with a win. Shell Anderton also won, but unfortunately we only managed three winners against our relegation rivals. This result has given them some breathing space, but the Brethertonians come to our place next week and that's a chance to reel back the deficit.

GOOD WEEK OF TRAINING
Some good teeth gritting stuff on the bike taking in the hilly delights of a few West Pennine roads. Meanwhile another thirty seconds off my time on the Monday morning Pendle run without busting my balls too hard and descending like some sort of proper runner again with instinctive foot placement and heels up almost kicking my backside.
The best way to start a day on the fells seems to set up the best way to finish it with a win on the green. 

CONCENTRATION KEEPS THE FORM BOOK IN CHECK

Monday 16th June 2025

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2:

Coppull 'A' (147) 7-3 Eagle & Child 'A' (111)
v ERIC CROMPTON W 21-13

By his own admission, veteran bowler Eric has been struggling for form in this first half of the season, saying he did this last year before turning it around later on in the Summer.
But you can't rely on the form book as any means to win in this game, more so away from home and especially on Coppull's tricky green which was running well on the back of a mainly warm and dry week.
After a few ends of nip and tuck, I started to gather points together and left Eric with plenty to do. I was playing across the high side of the green as much as possible and avoiding the dreaded drop off the crown to the clubhouse end, which can be one of the most lethal stretches of green on our local league map. 
Having said that, this green has complexities over every square yard of it and whilst easier to keep them on up top, there was nothing straight forward about it.
I played well though and put some real good ones up at times, whilst sometimes just a length bowl somewhere in the jack's vicinty was a good result.
Eric frustrated himself sending a few short ones when he could have at least saved and I rolled up to nineteen knowing I probably had a very good lead. But I certainly wasn't taking anything for granted and this green demanded high concentration levels. 

My opponent bowled one to win the next point before starting to find his length and taking five more from the next three ends with well placed woods.
Over the next three though I picked up the couple of singles I needed with well calculated efforts, just as Eric was starting to bowl more consistently and become a danger.
Concentration has improved I feel and as previously documented a few years ago, our club's own local legend Keith Anderton says, "It's a game of concentration."
With a competitive hot head and a willing to run before I can walk in this game, concentration has not been easy to work on. It's getting there though and with about half of the whole season ahead, I'm just looking forward to every game and regardless of results, keep pushing myself to get better.
Harry Derbyshire and Steve Marginson added to our points tally of three on the night. Somewhere in between not great, but not disastrous, would be a fair assessment.
Although sinking to the bottom of the table off this result, we are level on points with Black Horse and Bellingham, still only two behind tonight's opponents Coppull and just three from Bretherton who we face back-to-back fixtures with (yes, them again but different league and some different faces) before Coppull then come to our place. Three fixtures ahead that will go a long way to defining our hopes of staying up.

PENDLE RUN JUST THE TONIC

The Monday morning run up Ashendean Clough is currently the feature run of my week. It seems to put me in an excellent frame of mind for Monday night bowls and only a few weeks in I can feel the benefits of running strength in the climbs, if not yet leg speed so much.

I did two circuits at a steadier pace on Monday a couple of minutes inside the hour mark. You do question yourself scampering up the Clough to the cairn having already done it about twenty minutes earlier, but it's such a good profile of a run and I can feel it's doing me good without battering me.

Taxi duty brought about another opportunity two days later on the Wednesday to get up there again. With an effort run that still held a bit back, I did one circuit in just under twenty-seven minutes which is over two minutes quicker than my first plod a couple of weeks ago.

Seven or eight years ago I would occasionally whizz around this mini-horseshoe route in under twenty three minutes and one time smashed out two loops in under forty-five. I was in decent nick around then with a flat 5K not far off dipping under seventeen minutes ticked off and was still racing regular on the fells.

I'm not going to get to that standard again, but there's still some time to chop off and plenty of scope for getting quicker and stronger again. The main thing is, I love it. I just love getting out on to the fells and getting stuck in.

BACK IN WITH AWAY WIN

Thursday 12th June 2025

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1:

Bretherton 'B' (201) 10-2 Eagle Blue (169)
v TONY PORTER W 21-19

Rested from the team last week, I had it coming. That Metters game cost me really, so all I needed to do was beat Brian Duncan on his own green to save my place! 

As if that was ever going to happen, so three defeats in a row and the axe was overdue.
Back in and back on it a fortnight later and a first away win in Leyland & District's upper sanctum finally pieced together with a visit to the familiar territory of Bretherton.
Whilst turning out to be an equally close battle as last night's encounter, this time I just about kept on the right side of the scorecard and stayed there.
Starting the match as smoothly as my practice had gone, I shot off in to a good lead, but once Tony got hold of the block he was putting very close ones up going widthways over the middle of the crown to rack up three consecutive twos and a single to get right back in it.
I was never far away though and remained confident of breaking back and after getting myself ahead again, a succession of Tony's piddly short marks caught me out and I really should have called for the long tapes at some point. On one particular end that was truly well shy of the required nineteen metre distance, I decided in my wisdom that Tony's lead was beatable and then ended up conceding two. I was a bit cross with myself about that, as a good old kick of a wood in to the gutter (behaviour for which I seem renowned in these parts for some reason?!) did testify.
I pushed on again with some good winners down the far side until Tony went back over the crown again. A couple went by when I couldn't squeeze him out and the scores tightened up to 18-18. Two more great bowls from Tony looked to have put him in the driving seat, but then I found a massive bowl when I needed it. Trickling down to absolute perfection - and it had to - saving two and making one.
I then decided to play my first straight peg mark of the evening for a bit of simplicity and hopefully see the game out, but there's not many simple roads on this green and both my bowls just strayed left over the last yard for Tony to find enough room to draw level again.
I was surprised he didn't take us over the middle once more and instead went down the far side but didn't lead well enough and I got back in, needing just the one which I picked up with a nicely adjusted second bowl.
Only Steve Wilson joined me in the Eagle winners column with victory over Sharon Rigden. Not a good team return and our side desperately need a win soon to keep some breathing space above the drop zone.
It's Bretherton at home next week in the return fixture having marked the halfway point of the season. Their team will have a different look with some of them playing in the Isle of Man Bowls Festival, but they have strength in depth and will be a difficult bunch to pick up points again next Thursday. 

BELTING BATTLE BUT BRYAN STAMPS HIS AUTHORITY

Wednesday 10th June 2025

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2: Eagle & Child 'A' (134) 4-7 Westhoughton 'A' (140)

v BRYAN BOOTH L 17-21

Sometimes a visiting bowler comes along and takes to our Eagle green straight away. Never more so in my time than against this fella.
Bryan Booth, probably clinging on to late thirties by a thread - which defies the undertones of a more vintage sounding name - was the loudest and rowdiest in their team but a gentleman on the green and a bloody good player to boot.
A short, sharp flick of a delivery followed by the tension release of a stamping foot, Bryan certainly stamped his authority on this game tonight.
Excellent lead bowling culminated in an early deficit of 2-9 and quite frankly I was still fairly happy with how I was playing.
A former version of myself would have capitulated at this point. However the recently installed belief in what I am doing saw me keep cool and persist in trying to get a break.
Having finally managed to get one closer, I looked to have wasted my opportunity to keep hold of the jack but got lucky as my opponent knocked me in when going for a two.
I managed to pull myself right back in it to ten across, but just couldn't nudge in front. Bryan played us round pegging across the clubhouse and I that's my bread and butter I thought, possibly opening an opportunity my way. But he mastered it in both directions straight away, playing it perfectly and for a few more ends I couldn't get in again.
On the back of another mistake from Bryan, this time sending the jack off, I made that pay and then started to catch him out on a few ends for the first time in the match and recovered again to 17-18. Just when it was looking like the Westhoughtoner could possibly crack, he came back strong to play a good winner next end and then send two fantastic efforts pegging in to one of our tricky aloping corners to seal the win. I had to have a go at them but flung it a bowl's underneath.
I couldn't complain. I really enjoyed the match and should be pleased to some degree that I made a game of good game it.
I had nothing but admiration for my opponent who picked up our green very well indeed, played a round peg game and wasn't shy of going for twos when there was risk.
With not much to go off his record in this league, digging around to find where he plays more often, it turns out Bryan has only won one out of six in the Bolton Distrist top division. If he plays like that most of the time, that league must be bloody tough is all I can think.
This Wednesday nighter was a rearranged fixture. Four winners each, but chalks to the visitors by just six meant another defeat, but enough to climb above Coppull and out of the bottom three. Next up in the Chorley league? A visit to Coppull of course.

STILL ON THE UP IN A DOWNPOUR

 Monday 9th June 2025

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2:

Eagle & Child 'A' (154) 7-3 Brownedge Blue (128)
v PAUL FERGUSON W 21-15

It was a rainy night with the green getting heavier as the matches went on. Conditions like this take away some of the game's finesse and it can become a slinging match at times. Despite the continuous downpour our green soaked up well and certainly no standing water anywhere.
Paul's a good player, nothing felt safe whilst he still had a bowl in his hand. He berated himself a lot (far more than even I do) saying it helps him, but in contrast I'm trying to keep my lid on, which certainly helps me.
There wasn't much in the match, I didn't feel like I played any better than my opponent, but having edged away in to a lead at 12-8 I managed to sustain it. Paul played some pearlers, so did I. He won ends when my woods looked like winners and vice versa. He let me off for a very poor two, I returned the favour later on with a couple of howlers when on seventeen. It was at that point I thought I heard someone behind me in the away end mutter the word "rubbish" when my second bowl ended up as bad as the first. I can't be entirely sure it was intended for me, but the timing was very coincidental. If I needed an extra bit of edge to see the game out, that was it!
In a tight match it's about finding a way to win and especially in difficult conditions. Perhaps more often than Paul, I landed a length bowl on a few occasions over his attempts at long marks to scupper hopes of any prolonged jack possession for the visiting bowler.

Having nudged myself up to nineteen, Paul played a cracker to keep himself in it. But then played a mark I know to be tricky which Sheila Speed attempted in similar circumstances first match of this league season. 

Paul was tight and short with his lead, then shot through with his second. Now last game remaining on the green, "Same again lad!" was the chorus from our pavillion after my close first bowl. Repeating the scenario against Sheila, I kept my cool to put an equally good second up and get over the winning line line.
With five winners on the night and aggregate in the bag, a much needed victory and seven points which takes us off the bottom of the table.
I'm desperate for us to stay up. The team is struggling for numbers this season but I don't want to play in the third tier next season and don't want the difficult decision of what to do. I think we can make it and certainly can with better home form like tonight against a good Brownedge side.

ALL WORKS OUT AT CROSTON AGAIN

 Monday 3rd June 2025

CHORLEY & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-2:

Black Horse 'A' () 8-2 Eagle & Child 'A' ()
v JAMES WALLWORK W 21-11

Same village, different brilliant green and another satisfying win on the road in the Chorley League.
Back to repeat opponent syndrome, James was part of our club's Members League three years ago and I remember being on the rough end of a silky performance by the Black Horse captain who played very well, beating me to thirteen.
Croston was the scene of role reversal again though, after turning the tables on Dave Aindow at Croston Subs a fortnight earlier, I gave James a tough game on his home green that was running beautifully despite showery days of late.
There are no easy marks on this green, yet I still persevered with my round pegging strategy which made things even harder at times, but I was still getting good leads up which can make all the difference in this game. I got maybe six ahead before James had a run and I started getting nervy with my delivery and sent a few short ones. Combined with the fact the sun had dropped early behind a thick blanket of cloud, the green stiffened up a touch and I had a little word with myself about pushing through the bowl properly and managed to get back on track. Breaking back with a good two, I was two down next end but then one of maybe four bowls on the night - when I stole in on a cracking bowl from James - swung momentum my way again.
Good lead bowls and some good seconds too continued to keep the pressure on and a few more of those breaks when James thought he had every right to think he had won the end put me in a good position. Two good bowls to the sloping corner with James coming up short took me to all-but, when I decided to go somewhere different and rolled the jack off. Unbelievably, James then sent it down the opposite gutter too. Back with the jack, changing tact I won it with a length bowl on a tricky straight peg to the middle of the green. Two and a half foot away was good enough on this occasion.
Last year I recall doing half a job here having got in to a good position against very good home bowler Graham Alty and letting it slip. This time around at the Black Horse, there was more confidence and a much better feeling of the green and what could work for me. A more mature performance one might say, which for an emotional hothead in a game of precision and concentration is another small victory towards progress. 
A combination of my general improvement of late and playing top tier on a Thursday night is giving me that little bit of breathing space against opponents in the second tier on Monday nights, provided I can play well of course. Four wins from five in this league is a pleasing start and whilst that doesn't guarantee anything, this sort of form should at least see me continue to win a few more than I lose.
Our struggling side took just two points from the fixture, with former Black Horse bowler Matt Hoyles the other winner for us with an impressive victory over Dennis Norris. 

PENDLE PENCILLED IN FOR WEEKLY TIME TRIAL

If the day ended with a good win at bowls and some belting butties and chips in the Black Horse pub afterwards, the day started pretty good too with a run up Ashendean Clough on the mass of Pendle Hill.
My running form continues to pursue the gradual decline and whilst tickling along the past month or so with a few short outings a week, there hasn't been a breakthrough to just feeling good enough to do more.
A cold I picked up in late April hasn't completely cleared up and energy levels haven't been great. When doing some harder cardio work on the bike there is something still getting manically coughed up from deep. It's not pleasant.
For all the underlying and unexplained issues that get in the way of doing the miles, I felt quite good on this latest attempt on my beloved fells.
I ran a three miler on a mini-horseshoe route that I used to bash out some mornings before I worked in nearby Clitheroe in the latter half of the twenty-teens. I was in better shape than I probably gave myself credit for back then in my forty-somethings.
Time was down significantly in comparison. Nearly five minutes to the cairn summit, over seven minutes overall to previous averages, but I wasn't busting myself. I just wanted to enjoy it. I can still do it, which is the main thing, so no hardship really.
Incredibly, somehow it's been over five years since I've run up these particular lumps of Lancashire fell despite the mindful yearnings on many occasions.
It works in handy for a while now as assisting my step-daughter driving to work in the same part of the world on a Monday, until she passes her driving test.
A Pendle trot should become a Monday morning routine this Summer and hopefully I can build up a bit of strength and speed that might coincide with improved wellness.
Although competitive racing days do seem to be a thing of the past, which is a tough admission, I know damn well I'm going to he doing that route again the next few week and will be disappointed if I can't start quickening up on it. I can always find a dangling carrot. 

IN THE PRESENCE OF GREATNESS

Thursday 29th May 2025

LEYLAND & DISTRICT LEAGUE DIV-1:

Brownedge (180) 6-6 Eagle Blue (177)

v BRIAN DUNCAN L 8-21

The Brownedge captain might have been one short of enough regulars to make a team of ten this week, but had one hell of a reserve at his disposal.

It's well above my station to even begin to write a full account of Brian Duncan's achievements and legendary status in crown green bowls. The most famous name in the game.

He's won everything there is to win and in many cases multiple times. When the prize money was big in crown green bowling's golden era of the 1970's and 1980's, Brian made a good living from the game.

Now eighty years of age, a very sprightly eighty at that, he's still got it. Not what he had in those days of near invincibility, but still high quality by most players' standards. 

Watching Brian come over to set the mats up and wondering if he was actually playing tonight, Nige and I discussed the fanciful prospect of playing against him. We agree it's a win-win situation whatever the result. Minutes later, our captain Aaron says, "John, you're on now, you've got The GOAT!"

I got overexcited. Suddenly I needed a pee and jogged off to the loo! Having briefly met the man before, when I served him as a customer at work last year, I felt in the presence of greatness even then. So to have a match against him? Fairytale stuff.

I should have played it cooler perhaps, but I can't apologise for my enthusiasm. I mean come on, imagine a local league match in other games of an equivalent opponent... thrashing it out on court with John McEnroe, or pitting your wits against Steve Davis on the snooker table, Phil Taylor at the oche. 

I shot out of the loo as quickly as possible and the greatest of all time is waiting for me. No surprises perhaps as adrenaline sees me send the jack off straight away, but I did win that first end nonetheless.

I tried my best to stick with him and end for end, I felt much more in the game than the scoreline might suggest. I sent quite a few good ones to no avail as Brian had a knack of putting up an even better one when he needed it. He's been doing that for decades I dare say and this mon knows every square foot of this Brownedge green. Every one of my eight points was earned and the twosome I scored was a particularly well placed pair which got the dry response from Brian of, "Good bowls. Now don't do it again". "As if I'll get the opportunity!", was my prompt reply.

I wasn't wrong.

My lead bowls just weren't up to scratch overall on the night and they had to be to push this great champion any further on his home patch. I was disappointed not to get double figures at least, but what an experience to play the grand master. 

Generally Brian doesn't play evening games anymore and sticks to the afternoon veterans leagues where he still doesn't lose many, so it was an incredible twist of fate that brought about the opportunity to play against him in the first place.

Mr Duncan then comes over with a consolatory pint of Carlsberg - probably the best player in the world. 

He seemed a quiet and very modest chap, who certainly doesn't strut around with his illustrious past wrapped around his neck. A proper sporting great. 

A little later when I returned the compliment from the bar, he did have a brief natter with me and reflected on the game saying, "You didn't play too badly at all". I'll take that!

Division One in the Leyland & District continues to be a tough school with just three wins from nine so far and still seeking a success away from home. But I'm really enjoying it, I feel my game is coming along and this season as a whole so far has been a rich tapestry of competitive games, enriched to the top of the enrichment scale by this chance encounter with the crown green bowling GOAT. Crazy stuff. 

Teammate Steve Wilson said that I took one for the team, but it would have been nice to stick a few more points on the board and they would have been important ones. Despite six winners, we drew the match having lost the aggregate by just three chalks. Having said that, six points away from home is never a bad return in this league and keeps us in a relatively safe position for now.

BACK DOWN TO EARTH! 

Although only in to year five of my crown green activities, I knew full well about Brian Duncan a long time ago. Memories of watching him on TV back in the 1980's with my Dad or at Grandma's in the Greenall Whitley, possibly Waterloo and whatever else was televised back then. This only heightened my giddiness about playing him. I bet my Dad would have loved it and been a little bit proud. He was a darter who occasionally faced local professional Eric Parkinson at a pub in Coppull, beating him a few times too.

Back down to earth though when I got home. It was like every sarcastic quip I'd ever uttered came back to thump me in the stomach.

My wife says: "How did you get on?"

I reply: "Oh my gosh I ended up playing the greatest of all time, Brian Duncan!"

She says: "Oh WOW! Brian Duncan?!!!"

I say: [Gushing] "YEAH!!"

She says: [Blank expression] "Oh right, never heard of him"

Crushed. 😆