Whitehead Trojans vs Railway Blues, at the Grange Bar Ballyclare on a chilly Tuesday night, with Storm Chandra brewing outside. The weather was looking pretty rough, with heavy rain and strong winds forecasted, but the Trojans still made the journey.
The teams have had a mixed bag of results recently. Their last meeting ended in a 7-7 draw, so it'll be interesting to see how things play out tonight.
Stephen Hamilton got the Trojans off to a good start winning his first frame of the night after Ryan Stewart went in off on his break. Robin Kerr, Josh McIroy (a magnificent swerve shot after running out of position on the black), Gareth Curlett and Wes Smith won the next four frames convincingly giving the blues a 4-1 lead. Stephen Hamilton then won his second frame of the night before Chris Hobson won the final frame of the session. 4-3 at the break with everything still to play for.
Second session began with a win for the blues, Craig Laughlin winning his first frame of the night. The Trojans fought back well winning the night two, Stephen Hamilton making it 3/3 on the night and Matthew Thompson, 5-5. Wes Smith produced an incredible shot the get onto the black in the 11th frame then Josh Mcilroy put the blues on the hill after a scrappy frame, 2/2 for McIlroy. The penultimate frame was won by Gordon McKintry. 7-6 to the blues with one frame to play. Craig Laughlin held his nerve to to take out a lovely finish and get the win for the Railway!
A highly competitive game played in great spirit! Thanks to the Trojans for making the journey and all the best for the rest of the season.
Stadium welcomed the Times Tigers to their bar for this weeks league action Tigers looked to start off well with John Fulton winning the break and with a good break he started to clear the table, John being a very capable player it looked inevitable to be a break and dish however a surprising miss stopped that in its tracks and Stadium player Thomas Orr stepped up to the table, cool, calm and collected he punished his opponents mistake with a nicely put together clearance, 1-0 to Stadium. Next game the exact same situation played out with Tigers Stephen Simpson unable to see out his chance at a break and dish, while Bryan Elwood stepped up to the plate and took his opportunity and taking the win to put his team to 2-0. Scott Pettigrew stepped up next to stop the rot and not let stadium continue to build a lead. Sam Sloan then took the next game after a back and forth game to take it back to even at 2-2. Phillip Watson somehow pulled out a win in the next following a turbulent game putting stadium back in the lead 3-2. Both captains stepped up next in a battle to either level the score or extend a lead, after a great battle on the table it was Stadium captain Chris McCurry who came out victor with a beautiful double on his last ball which was also a combination shot with the white into the black, 4-2 Stadium. John was up again for the Tigers and very much the same as his first game he got a good break and went about clearing the balls this time he got down to the black although a break and dish was not on the cards for John yet again as he missed the black leaving it over the middle pocket, first game for Johnathan Drake of the Stadium and a big task to ask but he stepped up and went about clearing the balls, unfortunately for him though he missed the pot on his last ball although it did find a different pocket so did the white, a simple drop in black for John stopping the rot again and finishing off the first half. Scoreline 4-3 to Stadium
Players of note: Bryan Elwood, Chris McCurry and Phillip Watson all winning 2/2 on the night
Honourable mention to John Fulton and Scott Pettigrew both with 2/3 wins
Colts raced out of the blocks against Times Bar Scorpions with a tidy win for Alan Harris, Joe
Patton with a sublime break and dish with a smashing last red to get on the
black and Aaron Watters via an in off the black from Stephen Johnston. Sensing
danger the scorpions talisman Paul Kerr stopped the rot, Darren Haddock brought
the arrears back within one and Davy Blair levelled. Aaron Leslie had a tasty
reverse dish to take the a 4-3 lead. Stephen Johnston made it 5-3
followed by another from Aaron Leslie and another from Stephen Johnston to put
Scorpions on the hill at 7-3. Joe Patton was superb 3very tidy finishes in the
match but Scorpions ran out 9-5 in a match that was much closer than the
score line suggests.
With Scorpions getting three points it was imperative for Titans to do the same... And thats what they did against Galacticos. The bonus point has brought Galacticos level with Scorpions in second place.
In other matches Bay city Bowlers 6 Legion 8, Q Club 14 Ladies 0,
