Victory for Bakers at the Bull in Romford

The Bakers mission to stay in the Havering and district league top division was provided with a major boost last night, Bakers produced an impressive away win at the third placed Bull pub in Romford.

Monster opened the singles play at slot 1, after a tactical frame his opponent skillfully closed the game with a 4 ball clearance, the long pot 8 ball being the most impressive shot.

the home side requested that the doubles be played at this point to allow some of their players to attend shift work, Bakers agreed and Tony Cossey and Scott Rose played the first doubles fixture, after the Bull player went in off on their second visit, Cossey swept home a seven ball clearance to clinch the first of the 3 scheduled doubles games

Tony Cossey was also in the next game of singles, again Tony looked like he was going to clear up, again from 7 balls out, however a poor positional shot on the last colour, left a double on the 8 ball, which just refused to drop in the middle pocket. The opponent attempted to made the black safe from the next vist, however a spectacular shot on the 8 ball closed the frame for Cossey

Stuart was next up for bakers, again he played solid pool from a tactical disadvantage, always in with chance thanks to some solid tactics, however his opponent made his tactical advantage tell by clearing the last 3 balls to win, again however a good frame by Stuart.

Yon played next and went through a whole range of emotions in his frame, firstly missing a awkward 8 ball, then seeing his opponent make an amazing miss on a dead straight black, Yon then missed another hard black leaving the opponent another simple simple final shot, which he AGAIN missed, yon sheepishly then dished the final ball to win.

Mich played the next frame, his opponent leaving mitch a mountain to climb after clearing down to the 8 ball, then laying that ball near a pocket. In true Mitch style he took on average 22 minutes to decide on each of his shots and cleared up to win. :-)

Peter had the slot for last frame and after a scrappy affair, his oppoent made a decisive move to clear, however a poor positional shot left him without the final black, Peter swept in to mak it 4 - 2 in the singles and of course 5-2 overall as one doubles had been preplayed.

The final two doubles frames being shared to leave Bakers winning the match 6 - 3.

Winter League 2008/09

The havering winter league draws close, this is money competition, where each of the league entry fees forms a prize fund shared by the highest placed teams.

To enter this competition, we need....

• 4 Singles Players
• 2 doubles Pairs (The singles players can't form ANY part of the doubles pairings)

I think the format of the fixtures differs as well, but we need to discuss who forms which part of the side, especially with shift patterns and conference calls to deal with :-)

Speak at Monday's fixture.........Also Yon will send around the details of the XMAS party.

Bakers Home Win Versus Winchester

Bakers ended a run of 8 league defeats with victory over the Winchester club in Division 1 of the Havering & District pool League. This was an important voctory as the Winchester Club are in same region of the league table and this was considered by the Bakers Squad as a 'must win' game.

• Things started badly with Mitch Dawson losing the opening singles frame, the tactical nature of the frame slowed play, but Mich was visibly upset with his last visit.
• Tony Cossey avenged defeat to the same opponent in the corresponding fixture earlier in the season with 4 ball clearance after his opponent fouled while attempting a clever 'bank' shot.
• Stuart Mac was involved in an entertaining frame but was edged out by the Winchester captain. However Stuart once more proved he is 'hard to beat' and he never gives up on his frame, giving each shot full thought, an attitude we could all replicate which would add to our success.
  
• Dale Bennett admitted to playing like a 'plank' but this week was a winning 'plank' in his close fought frame
• Scott Rose was involved in the most controversial frame of the night, his opponent fouled under the 'hit one cushion' rule introduced this year, this lead to friendly but intense debate amongst the two teams. Eventually the ref (Stuart Mac) made the brave (and correct) call of 'FOUL', Scott then swept to victory by clearing his remaining 3 reds and the black after the foul.
• Gary 'Monster' Dennis swept to victory whitewashing his opponent with a two visit clearance of the table. Damm he is ruthless.

This put the bakers 4 frames to 2 up and gave us Victory in the Singles.

• Dale & Tony then played the two weakest opposition players in the first doubles, this was a strange tactic employed by the Winchester club as defeat would hand victory to Bakers in the overall match. The frame was streatched out by a blocked pocket with a red and a yellow on the edge of dropping. After a foul by Bakers the Winchester pairing made an attempt at a clearance, however after the player failed to clear, Tony Cossey cleared the tricky remaining balls for Victory, handing an overall match win for bakers
• I missed the last two doubles but the frames were shared one each, leading to a 6 frames to 3 victory for Bakers

The Bakers have some crucial fixtures in the coming month, these games involve playing close league position rivals, these fixtures will dictate the fate of our season. BE THERE guys....And Win.