Lonsdale 1 – Fylde 8
The match began with just six points separating the top two teams in the league; Fylde leading on 59, Lonsdale 2nd with 53 and Grad just a further three points off in third. The match was to have a huge bearing upon the final destination of the league title, a potential Fylde win would see them open up at least a nine point lead with just seven games of the season remaining.
The first game of the night saw James Muir of Lonsdale face Ben Wright of Fylde. Muir was unfortunate to snooker himself as he attempted a clearance. In spite of escaping the snooker, he left a fairly simple clearance on for his opponent. Wright left the black over the corner pocket giving Muir one final opportunity. However, the opportunity was not taken, and Wright calmly rolled the black in to send Fylde 1-0 up.
The second game saw Jamie Rodgers defeat Matt Wood of Lonsdale in a tense encounter to send Fylde 2-0 up. Rodgers finished the game off with a fine cut under pressure to the corner pocket with Wood having just one colour remaining.
Lloyd Meeks of Fylde followed up Rodgers’s performance with a win of his own against Nico Nicolaides, potting the black at the second attempt from a difficult position.
The fourth game of the night was an extremely tactical encounter between Tom Saxton of Fylde and Rob Culshaw of Lonsdale, with Saxton controlling the frame from the outset. Culshaw fought back bravely, but missed the black at the end of what would have been an impressive clearance.
Saxton pounced and ignoring any distractions, rolled the black calmly into the middle pocket to send Fylde 4-0 up.
The fifth game of the night saw the battle of the captains, with James Ferris of Fylde nominating himself in an attempt to seal the nine-game match there and then, before Lonsdale’s Captain Dan Brown responded in kind. Ferris dominated another tactical encounter, pouncing on the foul snooker that Brown had left, potting the final two balls to secure the overall win for Fylde at 5-0.
Jonny Ainscow rubbed salt into the wounds as he defeated Max Sanders in a tight game, sneaking the black in behind Sanders’ yellow into the corner making the scoreline 6-0.
Tom Marsden of Lonsdale wasted no time in a no nonsense victory in the 7th game of the night with a cool clearance.
Andrew Kelday of Fylde won the 8th game of the night against Mike Warner in comprehensive fashion, in one of the most composed performances of the night.
The final game saw Fylde’s Darts Captain Chris Bell take on Arran Sneddon of Lonsdale. Chris Bell, contrary to his nickname ‘bottlejob’, seemed relaxed throughout and finished the game with aplomb to make the final score 8-1.
Fylde Captain Ferris had this to say, “The scoreline wasn’t really a fair reflection of the game and I must give credit to Dan and his boys.” The result looks to have put Fylde within touching distance of the title.
Shouldn’t this article be about how some colleges choose to enter B teams that include university players, just so they can win?