Quarter Final Review

THE LAST POST. (so it's a long one !)

So it came to pass that the Racks Pack assault on the Maidenhead Summer League came to a premature end and I’m gutted.

I always believed that we would make it to the finals night, where the semi and final or 3rd/4th place play off would await. If we had just made it through Monday night we had two more games guaranteed and a bigger stage and test for our players.

With Treddy running late we had the bare six and as I originally had him down to be the lead off man it upset the running order that I had planned. A quick shift around and I stuck myself up first. As I had been away for the last few weeks it wasn't ideal but it had to be done.

After looking like I wasn't going to get a visit I missed the chance to take out the finish when I snookered myself on the last yellow after developing the black. But my opponent rattled a red he should never have taken on, and I was relieved to knock in the yellow and push the black over the opposite bag. 1-0.

JY played like a man possessed; sorry that's wrong - JY played a man possessed. Steve (?) Wallis got one look at the clearance and picked off four balls and a long black to level it. 1-1.

Then came the first of several crucial swings in the match, none of which were to go our way.

Neil played Jason Gilbert and almost produced a terrific finish. Almost. Doubling his last two reds he was desperately unlucky to leave the white hard up against the bottom cushion and starring at an almost straight black into the middle. The angle was pretty awful but with Jason’s yellow close to the pocket it gave the possibility of knocking the black in off it. Neil couldn't have hit it much better but it hung right on the edge having flicked the yellow. Jason played safe, and Neil opted to give him two shots rather than hit the black. Jason freed his difficult yellow and polished it off. 1-2.

It became a frame of some discussion as to whether giving away the two was the right shot. Personally I don't like giving anyone two shots and I would have elected to play the black even though it wasn't potable. Lee thought that the deliberate foul was the better idea and given the way he has played this season and how he played his frames I couldn't argue.

Kev stepped in at 2-1 down for a frame that I thought we had to win. He hardly put a shot wrong, apart from potting one yellow that should have gone over the pocket. In the end Leon fluffed a red, failed to hit a cushion and Kevin used the two to put himself in a winning position. Another set of two shots and he was soon rolling the black in. 2-2.

The second crucial point of the night was frame 5. Swanny, who is on a dreadful run of luck and zero confidence, got involved in one of those frames where neither player seemed to be able to give it away. Having got down to the black first he missed a difficult long pot and Rav stumbled through two yellows to leave a fortunate straight black. 2-3.

It has to be noted that Rav sportingly called a foul against himself that no one else saw as he was cueing up on a frame winning opportunity.

Lee came in for another ‘must win’. I didn't want to be chasing the match at 4-2 down and he played one of the cleverest shots I’ve seen in World Rules. Although I’ve been playing them for five years now, a lack of frames and the fact I might only play a few times a month means I’m no expert. Lee had gone for a finish that required him to roll a long yellow down the cushion and use two shots on the black. The yellow rattled and left a thin nick to get across the table for the black. I know that I would have taken the pot on without question. Instead Lee walked round the table and rolled the white up over the top corner giving the Forrester’s player two shots. It was a great spot. The Forresters guy was totally boxed in and nothing but a fluked clearance would save him. He failed, and Lee took his time to make it 3-3.

Kevin had said for a long time now that Lee was the most underrated player in the league and I can see why. All season he has played some really solid stuff and I had no doubt at 3-2 down he was going to take that frame.

With Treddy now arrived, the order was put out for the second half. I made sure Lee and I played 3 and 4 because I was convinced we would take those frames. Treddy and JY would lead off and Neil and Kevin would take the last two frames.

Treddy played Jason Gilbert, and with another turning point not going in our favour, he went in off his last yellow with the black sitting in the open. 3-4.

JY missed a chance is his game and Steve Wallis proved that the clearance he took out in the first frame against John was no fluke when he repeated the dose. 3-5.

I then played my best frame of the season and helped prove to myself that my game is coming back together despite missing so much of the season. The practise I had with Neil the week before had me taking out some tricky finishes. I threw a lovely double into the middle of the finish to split my remaining yellows. Sweeny Todd couldn't have cut as well as I did on the last yellow and I played it with a lot of side to avoid the in off and cannon out the black. The black rattled but dropped to save me from snapping my cue in half having done all the hard work. 4-5.

Having sung his praises, I duly jinxed Lee as he lost a game that we all thought he had in the bag and we were 6-4 down. It all came down to rolling his final ball down the cushion and in off the Forrester’s players red. The balls collided and both came out from the pocket, but when the dust settled the red fell nicely and the frame was over. 4-6.

Neil then played a terrific frame under pressure. He looked shaky for the first few shots and it appeared to be getting away from him but he played two or three ‘percentage’ shots on his last few balls leaving Rav some tricky long pots that he continually missed. A nervy attempt to finish with two shots left the black near the top corner, but it was to Neil’s credit that he didn't let it get to him and still played solid pool. A couple of shots tapping the black and leaving some awful positions for Rav’s yellows finally forced a mistake. 5-6.

I put Neil and Kevin in the last few frames because I was confident that if we got to that point they would win. I was sure the Forrester’s would load the top half and that if it came down to it the boys would play the better pool to take the frames. Nothing was more evident than Kev’s frame to level the match. When we all thought he was going to play a rash shot on his final few yellows he played a couple of shots that put all the pressure on his opponent and made it 6-6. Without doubt he played the best two frames in a single night that I’ve seen him play for ten years and he did it at times where he and the team were under the most pressure. 6-6.

So it came to picking a decider and I wanted it. I played well, I took out a wonder finish and I knew Jason was playing for them as he had already told me. He also had said it was me he wanted to play. We had a team discussion to see if anyone else wanted it and Treddy put himself forward, JY agreed so I asked Treddy outright and he said he wanted to play. It occurred to me that it might be a good idea to put him in because of the fact Jason was expecting me and seeing Treddy instead might shake him so Andy got the nod. Of course Andy had played well in his only frame of the night as well.

To cut a short frame even shorter we were never in it from the moment Andy went in off on the break and the yellows were sitters. It took Jason three attempts and a centimetre away from going in off the black before it was finally over. 6-7 - we were out.

I was gutted - along with everyone else in the side – but especially so because I thought that the final frame should have been my moment to step in. But hindsight is a wonderful thing and I could easily have gone on and lost and swapping my name in here for Andy’s. I was choked packing up my cue and heading off.

If I was moaning I could say we never really had a run of the balls. We lost a couple of crucial frames in Swanny’s at 2-2 , Andy’s in-off against Jason at 3-3 , Neil’s black that just didn't drop at 1-1 and Lees second game. We just never got our noses in front after the first frame and were always playing catch up.

In taking away some positives from the season there are a few things. Firstly I enjoyed scribbling the blog; this isn’t my usual effort of slating people etc but in the circumstances it’s hardly surprising. I’ve spent five of the last six weeks working in Frankfurt and it was great to log on to the site and read Kevin’s reports in my absence. Also other people in the area have mentioned to me how much they enjoyed reading it all.

Secondly, I got what I wanted from the season (other than the finals day place). I wanted a team of guys who are a good laugh and that we could all have a beer with and enjoy the pool and that was the best part. Had we made the final I would have been away in Germany again but Brad would have been back to step in.

Thirdly it was nice to play with someone different for a change. The progress in Neil’s game since I saw him at the start of the season was fantastic, likewise getting to watch Lee since we used to play for the Irish club some 15 years ago (blimey, it was that long ago!). Swanny had a terrible run that a lack of confidence brings but he was the only one to be there every week and on time and you need that sort of reliability to keep a side going. It all went wrong from the moment he told Neil that he was unbeaten.

The committee are doing a job promoting pool in the area. The email system for getting the results and the ability to text them with the scores after the game is great. It’s nice to have tables and results mailed to you early in the week. They should really press on with getting some decent sponsorship with the local newspaper and the pubs.

The idea of having all four quarters at the same venue was a good one. I was a little sceptical at first that so many people at the one place would be a problem. Our table was not the best either with a pretty bad roll at one end although it never cost any frames. With three of the four quarters going to final frame deciders there was a lot of cheering and shouting going on towards the end of the night which made for a tense atmosphere. Definitely a good idea from the committee although Im not convinced that both the semis and final would be completed in one night especially after the Monday we have just had.

The redraw of the quarters was a mistake in my opinion. Not using the ranking system as they said they would at the start of the season made a mockery of trying to achieve a good/better average. As it was, two ties stayed the same (us and the Thatched game) and ironically the only team to get a worse draw was Racks who then got knocked out by the Thatched B.

Perhaps we should have wished for another draw after all!!

Anyway, hopefully we will be back to do the same again next summer. The advantage of the summer league is that with a random draw you get to play the better teams at some point rather than ploughing through the lower leagues as you do in the winter. We will keep the blog open and maybe find some bits and pieces to put in as most of us will still be playing either in Slough or Maidenhead. JY, Brad and I will be at Yarmouth in a months time for the UK team finals so maybe we will have something to write about there as well.

Finally, thanks to the rest of the team for a great couple of months. To Kev, for his 100% record as stand-in captain, for captaining/winning more games than I managed to do, and for setting up the blog; To Swanny, who made every match, and JY, who left early at every match; To Brad for sodding off on holiday at a crucial moment, and to Lee for his sterling performances each week; To Neil for proving my belief that he was as good as I thought and finally to Andy, for giving Gilbert the best night of his pool life!!

Cheers

Your Captain.

Note from the editor - well done for another accurate and wholly comprehensive captain's report. Thanks also for your unswerving support Keith, especially the text messages while you were away reminding us that "you bunch of homos better win tonight". See you next year.

Can I also echo Keith's comments about the boys - it was a pleasure to captain a team of such a high standard, hopefully more of the same next year?