JUST NEEDED A WIN

Thursday 18th June 2026

Leyland & District League Div-1: Brownedge (191) 9-3 Eagle Blues (156)

v GILL NELSON W 21-15

Feeling a bit battered and bruised from recent results, it wasn't a case of setting the reset button again. If anything, I was rather apathetic and turned up at Brownedge void of any emotions whatsoever really. All I did know was first and foremost I had to keep my head together no matter what.

I just needed a win really and hoped for a game in which I might actually get a few decent opportunities. In this return fixture of last week, I can't deny a small sense of relief at not being drawn against Nick Wilson again. Brownedge isn't my happiest hunting ground and after pressing me out on my own green last week, the odds on his own patch would have been very much stacked against. 

Gill is no pushover though, despite her own struggles in this division this season and a wrist injury which seems to hamper the odd delivery that  she sends  

The bonus of apathy was being very relaxed and such much so, I had forgotten about my run of bad starts to games which seemed key to actually getting off to a good one. 

I might have got six or seven ahead before Gill got in and whilst many of her lead bowls were good ones, she left a few opportunities for me to break her momentum and more often than not I snapped them up to keep a decent lead going. 

On sixteen, I did have a wobble though when  conceding three twos over a close period and Gill gaining confidence from fighting back. Then I had a bit of luck when she beat a really good bowl of mine, went in for two and somehow knocked me back in. 

This seemed to sink my opponent and hand me a lifeline to refocus and see the game out. My first win in four attempts on this green. It's not my favourite. Despite that, I had tried to enter the Brownedge Classic again this year only to be told I'm on the waiting list - then recently see a post on social media that a place is up for grabs - which means I'm either forgotten, overlooked, not high profile or all of the three aforementioned. Probably for the best, although I did enjoy the 31-up format in particular. 

My own relief tonight wasn't shared by the team as we took only three winners and find ourselves on a bit of a bad run, which was always going to happen really at some point. Now we run in to all the top teams again but we just have to grab what we can and hope a few players, including myself, find that early season form again.