From the jaws of defeat...

Things were looking bad for the AC A-league team in their first match of the season, away at Aldermaston on 19th August. One of Rich Waterman’s balls had been pegged out by his opponent Andy Myers, and Andy was edging towards victory while leaving Rich only shots of 30 yards or more. Meanwhile, Mike Porter had reached 4 and 4-back, but his opponent Steve Woolnough was for peg and 4-back, and in play with a 4 ball break. To make matters worse, it was 8.10 pm, light was fading, and there were only 15 minutes left for play. Surely we were heading for a 0-2 defeat?
 
Steve slipped up – after running 4-back, he missed a short roquet letting Mike in with his 4-back ball. Mike took it to the peg and set a leave. Maybe he was in with a chance? But no, Steve hit the lift shot and looked set for victory once again.
 
Meanwhile, Rich hit one of his 30-yarders and embarked on a break. Maybe Rich would be the one with the come-from-behind victory?
 
Wait, what’s this? Steve ran penult but in the subsequent croquet shot his ball ran into the peg, leaving Steve unable to hit anything. Mike was in again and set a leave. Steve took the 20 yard shot and missed into the corner. Mike embarked on a break and for a brief moment, it looked like the certain 0-2 defeat could be turned around to a 2-0 victory. Sadly Rich came to grief at penult and Andy completed a +3 victory, but Mike struggled round to peg out for a +3 victory of his own.
 
As Rich said on the drive back to Wycombe, this match typified what’s good about AC – fun games that could have gone either way, played in a competitive but friendly spirit. We’re looking forward to the next one!

​Mike Porter