The search of a win in 2015 continues as Princeville Patriots rack up another defeat, this time to a resurgent Littlemoor.
First up D.Bowers faced R.Allan, in a game where momentum often changed between the two players. Dave got off to steady start and strung a few scoring shots to hold a useful lead. However as Dave hit a dry run, Ralph got into the groove and created some mini breaks of his own to take the lead. Dave was never out of the game and tried in earnest to regain the lead, but just lacked that cutting edge to get back in front before Ralph finished on a flurry to win by 20pts.
On the other table it was battle of the captains with K.Tomlinson facing D.Howarth, who could not find another cricket meeting to attend and decided to play himself ahead of freelance Billiards player G.Tudor. It was a game of eight-eighths as Keith possessed a healthy lead for the most part, whilst Dave was sensing deja vu from events on Tuesday night in Sunday School League Billiards and bemoaned at the lack of run-in. With less than seven minutes to go, Keith saw the finish line but started to run out of steam, missing a clinical shot with a red and further scoring opportunities became limited. Meanwhile Dave roared back into the game and produced a unfinished break of 17 in the final passage of play. One shot involved a worked out cannon where the cue ball back heeled off the red and went in-off, then delivered the coup de grace by sending the cue ball full length of the table from a double baulk position and scoring an in-off red to win by 16pts.
Next up was I.Tomlinson against P.Allan, the latter who continued where he started on Tuesday night by quickly getting on the front foot aided with some good fortune. Although Ian felt he wasn't entirely out of the game, run in played a vital part and the match was finished inside 30 minutes with Peter winning by 39pts.
Meanwhile on the other table it was J.Butcher against J.Allan. Making most of the 55pt handicap and home advantage, it was James who had the stronger whilst John was adapting to the conditions. Around the halfway stage, James preserved much of his 55pt start and considered upping the ante in an attempt to win an unlikely aggregate point for Princeville. However John started to get into a scoring rhythm and reduced the deficit to 15pts, however James replied with a 19 break that could have gone onto something bigger had a long range cannon wasn't sliced wide. With less than 10 minutes to go, John regained control of the game with further frequent scoring but just couldn't find that potential match winning break of 30 to really put the pressure on. Eventually James went into Snilliard mode with a cameo of potting to close out the game and win by around 35pts.
In all a good night for Littlemoor who won 4-1, leaving the Patriots with a nervy wait until Sunday to see how title challengers St Andrews "A" have done in their derby fixture against St Andrews "B".
