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.
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.
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