Princeville Patriots got the Pudsey Billiards League 2016/2017 Season underway with a tough fixture at home to Pudsey Congs. Despite the season starting a week later than in previous years, it felt like a shock to the system due to the summer weather lasting beyond the Autumn equinox.
First up was the two Tomlinsons, Ian facing D.Raw and Keith facing Pudsey League 2016 Individual Knockout Winner D.Hirst. Ian found himself on the back foot with immediate effect as Dennis looked in imperious touch, playing a good line with the balls when attempting cannons and in-offs and raced into a healthy lead of 40+. Although Ian did not get much in the way of scoring chances to begin with, scoring was patchy in places largely due to a lack of match sharpness and cueing deficiency. Dennis was aided some good fortune to keep the scoreboard ticking for a while longer, but momentum started to start as Ian strung a couple of breaks in the teens to half the deficit. However Dennis had enough in him to see out the game, scoring a flurry of points late on to win by 46pts.
The match between Keith and Dave was a slow burner with Dave holding a small lead to begin with. However Keith kept up with the pace and found some rhythm towards the latter half of the match, eventually winning by 15pts.
Next up was an intriguing fixture between J.Butcher and R.Bowes, a well celebrated player making a sensational return to the Pudsey League along with D.Hardcastle and A.Stevens.
It was not a particularly good night for James as Richard got into scoring mode from the off, recording a 48 break in his second visit. Things got bad to worse for James after striking the cue ball twice when attempting to pot a red into the middle pocket with ball in hand. For a player who has been out of the Billiards scene for a while, Richard looked in good touch, possessing natural cue ball positioning when playing a range of medium to long strokes and added another break of 37. Although James tried to reply positively, he did not have the required match sharpness to launch a realistic comeback and lost by 25pts.
On the other table, Don and Albert were keenly battling it out. It was relatively close for the most part with Don leading a good portion of the game. However Albert rolled back the years with a crucial 22pt break towards the end and recorded a 26pt win, which secured a 4-1 win for Pudsey Congs on the night.
Not the best start for the Patriots, a substandard performance lacking sharpness at times. Though Pudsey Congs look like early season title contenders and even have a number of quality players on the sidelines.
Next week is an away trip against St Andrews "A", a match sure to be keenly contested by both sides.
