Billiards Season 2026

Away Team Report:
On a table playing every bit as difficult as New Haw’s, and on an evening which brought new meaning to the phrase “home advantage”, the result was an exact reverse of last seasons corresponding fixture. In frame 1, with Lol still struggling to transfer his practice form to the match table, an early “sorry session” gave Martin a lead which he never looked like relinquishing. However, with some good play (and his own share of good fortune) Lol caught and passed Martin in the 100’s and looked like he was going to win. Unfortunately Lol again came to a grinding halt and an excellent break of 11 finishing with a double baulk and the red over the pocket gave Martin the opportunity he needed to close out the match. In the 2nd frame “It’s not what you miss, it’s what you leave” was the key as you could probably count on one hand the number of times Dave came to the table and didn’t score. That, combined with Dave’s “all around” game meant Steve was always on the back foot. However, he battled hard and did remarkably well to score a second point having been over 50 behind when Dave reached 100. In the final frame, I at last discovered some form and set off like a train with 2 15’s and a 20 in my first half-dozen visits, with each of those runs only ending in unfortunate fashion. Having reached the 70’s with Mick still on about 20 I was even harboring thoughts of stealing a 7-7 draw. I was unable to press home my advantage however, and a combination of some excellent shots from Mick, the table being a little “unkind” and a couple of terrible misses from me allowed Mick the opportunity to force his way back into the match and gain a creditable 2nd point before I finally took the win. Under the circumstances, it was a really good 7 points for us in the end. As Kelvin said after their visit to Chertsey, if they maintain that sort of form, West Byfleet are going to gain some very good results. And if they continue to enjoy “Home advantage” as much as last night, who knows? With their usual excellent food afterwards (that was a BIG tray of sausages), and the mostly good natured banter, it was for the most part a good evening. Much credit there to the Doherty brothers for the sporting nature in which they accept their good (and on occasion bad) fortune. AS