NOISY NEIGHBOURS SHOUT LOUDEST

Thursday 16th April 2026

Leyland & District League Div-1: Farington BC 'B' (173) 5-8 Eagle Blues (181)

v PHIL SNAPE W 21-9

A local derby victory at Farington launched Eagle Blues up to the dizzy heights of fourth place and maintain an excellent start to the season. A great night for the team, my own contribution turned out to be one of my most impressive league performances away from home.
Having lambasted myself enough times on these pages when I've not played well and let myself down, I should cut myself a little slack and temporarily pat my own back having clinched a convincing win against an opponent that I had considered beforehand would be one of the home team's most difficult draws for me.
Captain Aaron puts me on first four again and on hearing my opponent, the reserved and yet positive response of "doable?" slips from my mouth. Teammate Lee Kershaw chips in with, " 'Course he's fuckin' doable! Come on John!", and that's all you need to hear sometimes.
As was the case last week, a dubious practice session was followed by solid bowling during the match. Early on, it felt like a close game that could go to the wire. Phil was frustrated at not being able to send two good bowls and even if one counted, he was still remonstrating with himself despite such very early stages of the game.
It transpired Phil wasn't on his game, became more and more agitated and left me with plenty of opportunities which I snapped up. In fairness, I kept putting good ones up and kept the pressure on. This recently calm, collected and concentrated self on the green began to smell blood, landed some great winners at times and asserted authority on a game that perhaps on paper looked unlikely.
There were a few dubious ends which caught us both out, but I seemed to pick up the scraps on those too which, on one end in particular, resulted in one of Phil's woods kicked in to the gutter with disgust. I'm not sure Mr Snape and I have much in common really, but that would be a starting point!
Knowing exactly where my opponent's headspace was at that point, this was a reminder to keep trying hard not to go there again myself. Phil's display of frustration was only fuel for my growing confidence.
At 17-8 I had a bit of luck. I'd put two very decent bowls up that had every chance, but Phil found perfection with his second bowl and was on... until one of my bowls latterly tipped on to it's fat side just as rain descended. The calipers were out, but I knew damn well it was one to me. I then go on to nineteen after Phil beats my good lead by turning over and playing through on to the jack, but my adjustment was spot on too. I couldn't do owt about his winner on the next end, but Phil's hopes of finding his touch were dashed as he made the same mistake twice with two short and narrow bowls to which I replied with two unnecessarily very close ones to finish the job.
I doubt Phil thought beating me was going to be a foregone conclusion and even on his home turf, but I did sense he wasn't expecting me to keep putting good bowls up with such consistency. By his own admission he didn't play well, but I forced the issue and kept up the pressure on throughout.
The previous evening I bumped in to Farington player Gary Drake who joked that Eagle & Child were their "noisy neighbours". This newly promoted Farington side are a very good line up and this was a cracking result for us - so we had a right to be noisy on this occasion!
Chris Thompson was last game on against Matt Brown and not only helped clinch the aggregate, but pipped the young maestro 21-20 for our fifth win of the evening. Now a senior county player and winner of singles competitions at both Lonsdale and Longridge last month, young Matt doesn't lose many and especially on the green where he has learned his craft. A magnificent performance from our new recruit Chris.