The Anchor v Rackspack in “ANCHORS AWEIGH!”
Last week we received a veritable avalanche of mail praising our outstanding TV debut, so this week we decided to take show on the road. And so it was that with a cue in one hand and camera in the other we pitched up at The Anchor on Monday night.
Neil couldn’t make it due to some good news that he had and was celebrating, which was a coincidence as we were celebrating with Neil not making it! Not that we had anything against Neil but we already had seven players and with six frames to play in the first half. Needless to say seven into six didn’t go, let alone eight!
The showboat has been brewing for two weeks, and with John and Brad returning to put extra contributions in the pot for missing matches it was closing fast on £30. Remember, you have to break and dish, or dish on your first visit if your opponent breaks.
All’s fair in love and war and Coach Southams selection policies, and we all took a number and JY picked out the lucky six players. Nett result – The Coach hit the pine for the first half.
The Anchor was a lot brighter than last time I was in their. Did you know that the anchor itself dates back over 3000 years? It used to be a heavy stone that sailors would tie to a strong rope and throw into the sea to keep them stationary in heavy weather. Over the years the stone has been replaced by metal and the designs have evolved and changed according to a ships needs. But it basically boils down to this - as long as you have some heavy, lumbering, hard-to-shift objects to weigh you down you wont be going anywhere. On a related note, back to the match where Bradley Robinson and John Shiel were returned to the starting line up.
However before those anchors weighed in, Rob Walsh got first crack at the pot but an early miss brought cheers from the Rackspack faithful as we edged closer to the £30 mark. Amazingly Rob doubled the black to win the frame which meant in his last three matches he has won all three and doubled the black in each of them. It’s this kind of pointless flair we like to see at Rackspack. 1-0
JY got the better of Albie Blackman to put us 2-0 up, and when Brad lined up a double on the black it looked 3-0 all the way. But while the black flew in one pocket, the white headed off towards another and we had lost our fourth frame of the season. Interestingly out of the four frames we’ve lost this season, two were claimed when the Wonder didn’t show up and the other two were JY and Brad fouling on the black. So we had potted the black in all our frames so far! Pat put another on the board for 3-1 and it was 26 played frames this season and 26 blacks sunk by us!
Just as we were all marvelling at this staggering fact, thinking whether or not there was some sort of record, and considering putting in a call to Guiness – hold the phone – up steps the Wonder who not only made a total hash of his Showboat attempt, but his cue arm was writing cheques that his pool ability couldn’t cash and he careered the white in-off trying what can only be described at best as a “speculative effort” and at worst “total budge”. Michael Collins claimed the title of first player to pot a black against us when he mopped up with the two shots. 3-2
John “Hokey Cokey” Shiel was back in the warm bosom of the pack, and straight in at number six. Suffering from a touch of Ghandi’s revenge from the previous nights ill-fated curry he wasn’t in the mood for standing around too long. After a crashing break and potting two reds, the first real Showboat attempt of the night was on. Could John land the booty…
http://www.youtube.com/user/rackspack#p/u/0/fLq0mY8q7K8
Coach Southam was first up in the back half and when we drew lots for other five spots and running order John Shiel was the one to miss out. It was a cruel twist of fate for a man on the run most of the evening.
Coach won comfortably enough (5-2) and when Michael Collins broke against Brad, scattering balls in all directions, it was all hands on deck as Collins did the worst thing imaginable and started clearing up the reds and leaving the yellows marooned on “Clear up Island”…
http://www.youtube.com/user/rackspack#p/u/1/SYhqn0uMZeM
The Wonder lined up against Giles Towning and after a dry break Giles missed, and in stepped The Wonder to clear up in less than 50 seconds including two doubles and the pointless flair shot of the week on the black.
John Young, Pat and Rob polished off the last few frames but the air had been sucked out of the venue by the most hated man in pool yet again. Even he had to admit that he was starting to see why the we called him that! A final score of 10-2 and we couldn’t even muster a cheer – that’s right, it was another case of PSD (post-showboat depression) affecting the whole team
Next week we’re away to the Crooked Billet. Let’s leave you with some shots of the week and a “wonder” clearance. See you at the tables.
http://www.youtube.com/user/rackspack#p/u/3/i5zdHEYKbEg
Happy cueing.
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