Match Write-up for 26th/27th July

                      Can the Jesters be 'Court'?
The Jet Wednesday league, 26th July, saw top of the table Court Jesters taking themselves away to PSL Aint Going Down and this comfortable win for the Jesters sees them still yet to lose a match this season. Whilst PSL were remained in touch with the Jesters at only 6-4 down after the first two sessions, the Jesters made no mistake with the final session by taking all 5 frames with Andy Bunton confirming the team win in the 12th. This win for the Jesters sees them extend their almost unassailable lead at the top of the table but, also sees the PSL team slip one ?place to 6th.

The featured YouTube Live-stream match saw Court At The Bar taking on the Court Kids, and it was the latter making a good start by taking the first session 3-2. However, At The Bar were having none of it by then forging ahead and taking the next 7 frames in a row with Michael Harrison securing the match in the 11th. Whilst Ryan Anderson and Joe Haywood took 2 further consolation frames late on for the Kids, this comfortable win for At The Bar sees them move further away from the bottom of the table but, also sees the Kids move up one place into 5th spot, despite their loss.

Another ‘all court’ clash saw Court Snapbacks take on Court Gimme A Break and with the latter holding on to 2nd spot in the table by a single point and the snapbacks in 3rd going into this match, a lot was at stake for both teams. Liam Ayres’s ‘break & dish’ certainly contributed to the first session win of 3-2 for the Snapbacks and, with achieving the same score-line in the second session too, Gimme A Break were still in touch with the match, just. Whilst Mick Thorpe for Gimme A Break then reduced the deficit to just the single frame in the 11th, the ‘Snapbacks’ lived up to their name by taking the remaining 4 frames in a row with Sean Hackett confirming the win in the 13th, seeing the two teams now swap places in the league table.

With only 3 matches left to play before the season’s end, the Postie Pats are running out of time in seeing themselves lift off the bottom of the table and, they did themselves no favours in this regard when hosting the Parkway team this week. Mid-table Parkway took a 3-1 lead at one point only for the Posties to level things at 3-3. With the score-line at 4-4 by the end of the 8th frame, it was difficult to see who would eventually see the match out however, Parkway then took the next two frames to take a reasonable lead going in to the final session. With Parkway repeating the same score-line of the previous two sessions of 3-2 and with John Roe securing them their win in the 14th, this leave them with no change in their 4th spot table position for Parkway but, it does however, leave the Postie’s with a mountain to climb.

             No 'Larking About' against the Posties

The Stanground Carpets & Flooring Thursday League, 27th July, saw Court Larking About take on the Court Posties and this was about as easy as it could possibly get for the Larking About team with a complete white-wash over the Posties. What contributed to this defeat for the Posties? Firstly, they did have their chances but failed to take all of them whilst Larking About on the other hand, didn’t waste their opportunities. Secondly, and like one or two other teams in this league, Larking About possess two or three players that have that innate ability to pull out a result from seemingly impossible positions and, on that note, a particular mention of youngster Luke Gilbert who made his PWR debut tonight with 3 very convincing frames won. His tremendous pedigree, already built up for someone so young through his Interleague and County experience, really shone through and massively contributed to the team win - definitely a name to look out for in the future. Final shout out too to Ivan Knight. It’s fair to say that nobody likes to be the ‘only’ losing player on a team win and so, unlike on two previous occasions before when his team were on the brink of delivering the same ‘lesson’ as they did tonight only to fall at the final hurdle and not quite take all 15 frames, he managed to hold his nerve this time round and helped to see his team secure an outstanding result which sees Larking About jump back into 2nd spot in the table and the Posties staying in 8th.

The featured YouTube Live-stream match saw Court By The Cops host Crosskeys Silver. The match was all square by the end of the 4th frame however, Silver then threw down the gauntlet and piled the pressure back on to the home team by taking the next 5 frames in a row leaving the Cops with the unenviable task requiring all of the remaining 6 frames if they were to get a result. Glenn Cripps of the Cops got the ball rolling by winning the 10th frame however, with 3 frames then won in a row by Silver, including Tony Brown confirming the win in the 11th, this gave Silver a relatively straight forward win in the end which sees them drop to 4th spot, albeit with games in hand, and the Cops now move up to 6th.

PSL Lions took the trek across to the other side of the city to take on the Quinns Muppets. On form and table positions alone, this should have been a relative breeze for the Muppets on home turf however, never ‘judge a book by its’ cover they say, and so it proved. This was as about as closely fought a match as it could possibly get. The Lions went 2-0 up only to be pegged back to 2-2. Over the next 10 frames a pattern immerged with the Lions going a frame ahead only to then see the Muppets draw back level each time. This continued up to and including the penultimate frame where, at 7 frames apiece, Paul Dewey of the Muppets took on Stephen Edgley of the Lions in this match decider with the former, securing the win for the Muppets - the one and only time they went in front. This closely fought win for the Muppets sees them move up to 3rd spot in the table and, whilst the Lions narrowly miss out on their first win of the season, it does see them reduce the deficit between themselves in 9th and the Posties in 8th spot.

Top of the table Court Gold welcomed Bluebell R Back. The match was level-pegging at 2-2 by the end of the 4th frame but Gold started to create a decent lead by taking the next 2 frames through Andy Bunton and Joel Scott. Lee McShane for Bluebell halted the slide by reducing the deficit to just the one frame however, Gold kicked back in with three in a row leaving the pressure back on the Bluebell team not needing any more losses if they were to take this match. Gold, of course, had other ideas by finally securing the match through Sam Boome’s ‘break & dish’ in the 12th frame and, not to be outdone, Gold’s Ady Bonsor himself all but wrapped things up with a ‘break & dish’ of his own. This now leaves Gold with an increased lead at the top and the Bluebell team still mid-table in 5th spot.