Princeville Patriots played host to league leaders Bradford Deaf Centre 4 Stars with a change of personnel. Regular skipper K.Tomlinson was away on holiday and drafted in his place was Tuesday night "A" team regular C.Thorp, who did a spot of interim captaincy in the opening fortnight of the Bradford Sunday School League with a 100% win ratio and left Princeville "A" top of the league.
Taking charge of the Patriots for one match only was J.Butcher, who also held a 100% win ratio whenever captaining the Patriots. His success rate is as follows:
12th March 2015: Patriots 5-0 St Andrews "B"
2nd April 2015: SF Cup win v Pudsey Congs
17th March 2015: SF Cup win v St Andrews "A"
First up was C.Thorp v I.Ford and D.Hardcastle v B.Robinson. Both players looked to make their mark, but it was Ian who started the strongest and grew in confidence. Playing hard shots around the table with an element of luck at times. To some may look like hit and hope, but looking closer there was an element of calculation as Ian knows his way around a table and played the angles rather well.
Needing single figures to get to 200, Ian was strong favourite to win. However Chris produced a 23 break on the counter attack and at one stage winning the game off that break, but ran out of position. Next visit Chris managed to get a slice of luck by unintentionally potting Ian's cue ball and proceeded to double baulk. Ian played a tactical miss stroke, Chris needed a score to win and went for a high risk, high reward pot red off the cushion which clinically went into the middle bag to win by 7pts. D.Hardcastle secured a steady win against B.Robinson to put the Patriots 2-0 up at the tea break.
Next up was top board men J.Butcher and J.Dixon plus I.Tomlinson and I.Hussain. Ian and Ishaq went toe to toe throughout, leads kept on exchanging with neither player leading no more than 10pts. But with less than two minutes to go, Ishaq got on the table and sensationally won by one point.
The top board match was far from a classic, although James had a decent opening start his game rapidly went into decline as the game progressed, making high amounts of unforced errors and missing regulation cross losers. It didn't take long for Jeremy to seize control and eventually place himself in an unassailable position towards the end. James did get back on the baize with a consolation 11pt break before the bell went and this proved vital in winning the aggregate point. A 3-2 win on the night for the Patriots, though the interim skipper was visibly furious with his own performance and felt it could have been more.
