Finals Night Match Report - 9th July

Match Report
The league was wrapped up in fine style last night with the Finals Knockout followed by the presentation of prizes.

The draw was based on league position with the top 4 getting the advantage of a second chance if they lost their opening match.

Ben and Sam played first with Ben taking the first leg for an early lead. However Sam came back strongly with consistent scoring to win the match 2-1 and knock Ben out. Andy and James were next up. Andy's finishing letting him down and James won 2-0 with an excellent 113 checkout.

Darren took on Anne and despite a close match scoring-wise he hit his doubles first and knocked Anne out: 2-0. Completing the first round were Ram and Craig. Ram started strongly while Craig took longer to get up to speed and won 2-0 in a fast-paced match.

That set up the elimination quarter-finals between Darren and Andy, Sam and Craig. In the first eliminator Andy struggled to find the form he showed through the league season and Darren proved to be the sharper finisher to book his slot in the semis with a 2-1 win, knocking Andy out. Sam put in her best performance of the season in a very close match against an improving Craig but lost narrowly in the deciding leg, going out 2-1.

Into the semi-finals and first up were Darren and Ram, both undefeated so far. Darren fought hard and put in some good scores but Ram was steady and powered into the final with a 2-0 victory. James, like Ram, had gained his place in the semis by winning in the first round while Craig had to battle through two matches to get here; however he suffered a dip in his form at this crucial stage and Craig won fairly comfortably 2-0.

It was after time had been called at the bar when our two finalists stepped up to the oche. The pairing might have been a repeat of their first round meeting but the result was not. Ram's aim was not tight enough this time around, while Craig looked very sharp and was obviously not tired after playing three rounds to get here. The final scoreline was 2-0 to Craig, a quality performance and a well-deserved win.

Prizes
For scoring the highest checkout on the night, 113, James won £5. He added to this his half of the £5 for highest score, shared with Darren who also hit a 140.

James also won £10 for the highest checkout throughout the league with 121, while Sam won £10 for the league's highest score of 165.

Ram as runner-up received £20 while last but certainly not least was our overall winner Craig who received the trophy and £40.

A big thank you from me as the organiser to everybody who took part, and to Trevor from the RNLI for agreeing to present the prizes. I had a lot of fun taking part as well as running the show and I hope you will all be back for the next league.

Coming Up
The league will take a break for a few weeks but there will be various knockouts and other friendly competitions over the coming weeks until the league starts again.