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Inter County U-150 team
Team Captain: Alan Thomason
MCCU Under-150 Championship
Staffordshire 13 - 3 Leicestershire
Match played 21 February 2009 at Newcastle Bridge Club.
Match report by Alan Thomason:
We put out a very strong side, although on grading Leicestershire were close, we did not lose on a single board – that is a tremendous result (10 wins, 6 draws).
Good play from everybody – after near misses at Manchester & Warwickshire, we were ready for a win – and what a win!
I was also pleased to maintain regular players in the side – with only two new ‘first time this season’ players – Martyn and Kevin , both of whom added to the team strength – and two points to the bottom line!
Newcastle UL Bridge Club has to be the best venue in Staffs – there were many favourable comments from both Leicestershire and Staffordshire players – thanks to Martyn for arriving early and getting things setup.
It is always difficult to make a final selection when you have a strong squad to pick from - so thanks to all who played on Saturday and to those who did not play on Saturday but play our previous matches (Nottingham/Manchester/Warwickshire).
Given the result, it is difficult to single out any individual board - I would just like to mention Mike Groombridge’s draw on board 11 which could so easily have been a win if the Leicestershire player (C.Tipper) had not found the knight promotion which just kept him in the game – who else missed that?
I did!
I don’t know whether or not we have done enough to qualify for the next round until all of the results are in – in any case, we have the makings of a very strong U150 squad for next season – and hopefully we will be able attract other Staffordshire players in the 130+ bracket who would like to join us and share our celebration of future victories.
| Bd |
Grade |
Staffordshire |
Score |
Score |
Leicestershire |
Grade |
| 1 |
145 |
Philip Porter |
½ |
½ |
I Dodds |
137 |
| 2 |
144 |
David Daniels |
1 |
0 |
J Bingham |
139 |
| 3 |
144 |
Bill Armstrong |
½ |
½ |
P Watkinson |
140 |
| 4 |
143 |
Martyn Harris |
1 |
0 |
M Tate |
137 |
| 5 |
142 |
John Staniforth |
1 |
0 |
P Harrison |
136 |
| 6 |
141 |
Frank Wood |
1 |
0 |
P Deacon |
136 |
| 7 |
138 |
Diarmid Gibson |
1 |
0 |
B Foreman |
134 |
| 8 |
137 |
Martin May |
1 |
0 |
S Turvey |
133 |
| 9 |
137 |
Steve Hill |
½ |
½ |
J Pattinson |
128 |
| 10 |
136 |
Peter Leary |
1 |
0 |
S Wylie |
130 |
| 11 |
135 |
Ben Zitha |
½ |
½ |
C Tipper |
129 |
| 12 |
131 |
Mike Groombridge |
1 |
0 |
K Potter |
129 |
| 13 |
129 |
William Rea |
1 |
0 |
O Hardy |
122 |
| 14 |
126 |
Alan Thomason |
½ |
½ |
T Dove |
118 |
| 15 |
125 |
Kevin Hadley |
1 |
0 |
B Pourmozafari |
116 |
| 16 |
116 |
Max Wootton |
½ |
½ |
M Busby |
91 |
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TOTALS |
13 |
3 |
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After several successful years Stephane Pedder stood down as team captain last season.
In his place, Alan Thomason will captain the team this season.
Already familiar to players in the Stoke league, last year Alan ran the U125 team.
Matches are played on Saturday afternoons, with no adjournments.
If you are interested in playing, I'm sure Alan would be pleased to hear from you.
Please get in touch - contact details in the left hand column.
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