“Brown Jug” myth finally put to rest

 rare outing to the ‘Slurs’ spiritual home, set them against the Flyers and offered a chance for the legendary Stu performance to appear.

A steady start from 1st leg as Mike slaughtered his man & Clive narrowly missed a 40.  Trailing by 4, JT set about reversing that as he opened with a high spare.  With a 9 from Stavros helping him to beat his man,m the rest of the leg was somewhat mixed as they dropped a further 4 pins.  Still, a manageable gap at the halfway mark and Stu still to come, so nothing to worry about.

Playing without gloves on his feet this week, Chris caused a stir with an opening 1, while Stu’s opening 3 got the ‘Slurs worried.  A low-key performance saw them mark our lowest 3rd leg score so far this season, as we dropped 29 pins, to leave the anchors chasing a significant total.  but they were up for it and, after a shaky start, .  9s from top scorer Rob and Gary helped claw some pins back.  Despite claiming op leg score, the task proved too much and they could only win by a single pin, as we suffered another loss.

Our last home game of the year next week as we take on Madhatters.

4/12/13 v Brown Jug Flyers @ Brown Jug

Mike

4 5 7 5 7 8 36 12

TC

5 6 7 5 6 7 36 -7
Clive 8 5 4 8 8 6 39

-9

1st leg total 111 v 115

AS

5 8 3 9 4 8 37 5

JT

15 6 5 8 3 4 41 -2
Steve 6 7 6 2 5 7 33 -7

2nd leg total 111 v 115

 

Chris

1 6 4 6 6 7 30 -14

Pete

8 4 5 7 6 6 36 -2
Stu 3 6 5 5 5 2 26 -13

3rd leg total 92 v 121

Rob

6 9 6 8 8 6 43 5

Gary

5 4 9 7 8 5 38 -2
Neil 2 7 7 7 8 6 37

-2

4th leg total 118 v 117

Grand total 432 v 468

WON by -36

Hustlers get all Steamed up

Back at home this week, Hustlers were hoping that Steamers would continue their record of no away wins this season.

A great opening hand ssaw Mike & Rob get our first 9s of the night.  But that momentum couldn’t be maintained & we ended the leg 12 pins behid, despite Rob getting our first 40.  2nd leg was more evenly matched, thanks to another Chris 40, despite his Hustler spare (thus wrenching Mo the Meerkat from JT’s tight grasp) and we dropped a mere 3 pins, to keep the gap to 15.

3rd leg boldly set about closing that gap, with Stu’s lonely spare & Chris’ 9 helping them to a pair of 40s, ably supported by our veteran Chir (who opened with a 9) and a most creditable leg score, leaving the anchors just 17 pins behind. They fought on the unforgiving alley and it ultimately came down to the last hand, where a 17 spare ultimately sealed the game’s destiny. An unfortunate away loss, with a final 11 pins added to the deficit.
 
We expect great things next week as we return to the Brown Jug of Hustlers legend.
 
25/11/13 v Steamers @ Suffolk

Mike

9 4 6 7 7 6 39 -6

AS

7 6 3 5 6 5 32 -6
Rob 9 4 7 8 4 8 40

-1

1st leg total 111 v 123

Pete

7 6 8 3 8 5 37

TC

5 4 7 3 6 5 30 -11
Chris 7 6 9 7 5 9s 43 8

2nd leg total 110 v 113

 

Mart

8 4 6 8 5 6 37 -2

Rich

3 7 4 8 3 8 33 -9
Stu 6 6 6 5 8 7 38 -2

3rd leg total 108 v 121

Steve

7 4 8 6 9 4 38 -7

Gary

7 5 7 6 8 8 41 4
Neil 7 8 7 7 9 7 45

9

4th leg total 124 v 118

Grand total 453 v 475

WON by -22

‘Slurs Cock A Hoop with the Dog’s Bollocks

This week saw the Hustlers venture to the splendour of the Albion Club to take on high-flying Starbrights.

An interesting start as Mike opened with a 1 and Pete with our first 9 of the night.  That was pretty much the story of the leg as they struggled to a 9-pin deficit.  2nd leg were more sedate as they failed to break the 100 mark and dropped a further 11 pins, leaving us trailing by 20 at the midpoint.

3rd leg boldly set about closing that gap, with Stu’s lonely spare & Chris’ 9 helping them to a pair of 40s, ably supported by our veteran Chir (who opened with a 9) and a most creditable leg score, leaving the anchors just 17 pins behind.  They fought on the unforgiving alley and it ultimately came down to the last hand, where a 17 spare ultimately sealed the game’s destiny.  An unfortunate away loss, with a inal 11 pins added to the deficit.
 
We’re back at the leveller next week, as we face Steamers at the Suffolk
 
21/11/13 v Starbrights @ Albion Club

Mike

1 7 8 6 6 5 33 -10

Pete

9 8 6 4 3 7 37 -5
Rob 4 8 2 8 8 7 37

6

1st leg total 107 v 116

JT

5 6 4 5 8 5 33 -5

TC

5 5 6 5 7 4 32 -6
Clive 5 7 2 7 4 6 31

2nd leg total 98 v 109

 

Chris

4 5 8 9 7 7 40 2

AS

9 5 4 8 5 7 38 -8
Stu 7 6 13 6 8 5 45 13

3rd leg total 123 v 116

Gary

5 7 4 8 5 6 35

Steve

5 7 5 6 5 7 35 6
Neil 6 5 5 7 5 7 35

-17

4th leg total 105 v 116

Grand total 431 v 455

WON by -24

Stick for the ‘Slurs

Back at home and looking to extend their winning streak, Hustlers faced the Celery Boys.

First leg stuttered along, with Mike narrowly avoiding wrenching Barry from the vice-like grip of JT, as they failed to break the ton and dropped behind by 21 pins.  Second leg set about making amends, with TC marking our first 9 and Clive our first 40, as they pulled 4 pins back.

Chris’s opening 9 helped him to another 40, while Stu just fell short and Rich got an uncharacteristic bottom score, to see us drop a further 10 pins, but leaving the anchors with a getable 27-pin gap to close.  That gap was soon closing as Gary opened with a double 9, on his way to a 40, along with joint top-scorer Rob and good support from Neilson.  A valiant effort, but not quite enough, as we finished trailing by a narrow 8 pins.
 
Back on the road next week, as we face the Starbrights at the Albion Club.
 
11/11/13 v Celery Boys @ Suffolk

Mike

7 7 6 4 1 6 31 -2

JT

5 4 6 5 4 7 31 -8
Pete 5 8 6 3 8 5 35

-11

1st leg total 97 v 118

Mart

2 7 5 5 7 5 31 -7

TC

4 6 5 7 7 9 38 -1
Clive 7 8 7 6 6 7 41 12

2nd leg total 110 v 106

 

Chris

9 7 8 8 7 3 42 -1

Rich

7 5 7 5 4 6 29 -16
Stu 5 6 8 8 5 7 39 7

3rd leg total 110 v 120

Rob

7 8 5 7 6 9 42 11

Gary

9 9 6 4 7 5 40 5
Neil 5 6 9 6 4 8 38

3

4th leg total 120 v 101

Grand total 437 v 445

WON by -8

‘Slurs collect tthe 9s at last

A trip to the Adam & Eve saw Hustlers take on old friends Tivoli Boys, looking to rediscover that winning feeling.

Mike lead the way with our 1st spare, 9 & 44, ably assisted by JT, to give us an early, if narrow lead.  But that wasn’t good enough for 2nd leg.  With another couple of 9s & just TC failing to reach 40 (but winning the raffle), they soon made sure the match was all-square once more.

Another pair of 9s followed as Stu joined the 44 brigade & Rich got his 1st top score of the season as 3rd leg pulled out a great 16-pin lead, to leave the anchors in an unusually good position.  Rob joined the 9 & 44 club, with Neil a single pin behind, stretching that lead out by a further pins, to take the match by a much needed 23 pins.
 
A rest next week, so a chance for a trip meeting, before returning to the Suffolk the following week.
 
28/10/13 v Tivoli Boys @ Adam & Eve

Mike

5 5 12 9 6 7 44 10

JT

5 6 8 8 9 8 44 -5
AS 5 6 6 6 6 5 34

-1

1st leg total 122 v 118

Mart

8 5 9 8 7 4 41 -1

TC

6 4 8 9 6 4 37 -3
Clive 7 8 8 3 8 6 40

2nd leg total 118 v 122

 

Chris

5 7 5 8 6 6 37 -1

Rich

7 8 6 9 9 7 46 5
Stu 7 6 8 7 9 7 44 12

3rd leg total 127 v 111

Rob

7 9 8 7 6 7 44 4

Gary

5 8 6 6 7 4 36 -8
Neil 9 7 8 7 7 5 43

11

4th leg total 123 v 116

Grand total 490 v 467

WON by 23

‘Slurs collect tthe 9s at last

A trip to the Adam & Eve saw Hustlers take on old friends Tivoli Boys, looking to rediscover that winning feeling.

Mike lead the way with our 1st spare, 9 & 44, ably assisted by JT, to give us an early, if narrow lead.  But that wasn’t good enough for 2nd leg.  With another couple of 9s & just TC failing to reach 40 (but winning the raffle), they soon made sure the match was all-square once more.

Another pair of 9s followed as Stu joined the 44 brigade & Rich got his 1st top score of the season as 3rd leg pulled out a great 16-pin lead, to leave the anchors in an unusually good position.  Rob joined the 9 & 44 club, with Neil a single pin behind, stretching that lead out by a further pins, to take the match by a much needed 23 pins.
 
A rest next week, so a chance for a trip meeting, before returning to the Suffolk the following week.
 
28/10/13 v Tivoli Boys @ Adam & Eve

Mike

5 5 12 9 6 7 44 10

JT

5 6 8 8 9 8 44 -5
AS 5 6 6 6 6 5 34

-1

1st leg total 122 v 118

Mart

8 5 9 8 7 4 41 -1

TC

6 4 8 9 6 4 37 -3
Clive 7 8 8 3 8 6 40

2nd leg total 118 v 122

 

Chris

5 7 5 8 6 6 37 -1

Rich

7 8 6 9 9 7 46 5
Stu 7 6 8 7 9 7 44 12

3rd leg total 127 v 111

Rob

7 9 8 7 6 7 44 4

Gary

5 8 6 6 7 4 36 -8
Neil 9 7 8 7 7 5 43

11

4th leg total 123 v 116

Grand total 490 v 467

WON by 23

Glitch hits ‘Slurs comeback trail

Back at Fortress Suffolk once more, Hustlers were confident of extending their winning streak.

1st leg got us off to a reasonable start, with Chris narrowly missing out on another 40, with Mart beating his man & TC managing to scrape a tie with his as we lost by a single pin.  Despite Mike getting our first 9 off the night, 2nd leg faltered, dropping 17 pins to leave us 18 behind at the midpoint.
 

More of the same was to follow as, despite a pair of 9s from Stu, 3rd leg conceded a further 22 pins, leaving the anchors chasing 40 to save the game.  A valiant effort saw both Rob & Neilson just miss out on 40s as they became the 1st Hustlers leg to win.  But it wasn’t quite enough and Mitre eventually triumphed by a narrow 38 pins.
Next week sees us take to the road once more to face the Tivoli Boys at Adam & Eve.
 
21/10/13 v Mitre @ Suffolk

Mart

8 4 5 7 5 7 36 7

TC

4 6 5 7 4 5 31
Chris 7 8 6 4 8 6 39

-8

1st leg total 106 v 107

JT

6 2 8 4 7 7 34 -6

Mike

5 9 3 6 5 6 34 -8
AS 4 2 5 8 7 4 30 -3

2nd leg total 98 v 115

Clive

3 6 4 6 5 4 28 -11

Gary

4 6 3 6 7 5 31 -6
Stu 6 9 9 6 4 2 36 -5

3rd leg total 95 v 117

Rob

7 5 8 6 6 5 37 3

Steve

5 3 8 7 4 6 33 -3
Neil 7 8 8 4 7 5 39

3

4th leg total 109 v 106

Grand total 408 v 445

WON by -37

Golden Night For ‘Slurs

Fortified by last week’s opening win, Hustlers returned to Saracens looking to start a run against Golden Miller.

A cracking start from first leg saw Lofty get our first flattener of the season on the second ball of his penultimate hand, converting the first spare of the night, while TC hit our first 9.  He and Chris posted our first 40s of the night to establish a 5-pin lead.  A flurry of 9s from second leg helped them each to the 40 mark as they set about adding a further 10 pins to the lead at halftime.

Despite 9s from Rich and Stu, only Clive broke the 40 mark, thanks to his first spare of the season.  The traditional third leg jitter had seen us drop 6 pins, to leave the anchors with a little leeway to play with.  Tension built as they stuttered through the initial hands, before Rob hit our second spare, to help pull that gap out by 10 pins.  All three showed good form from there on, with a superb effort from Rob to get a second spare with a first ball flattener (surely a ‘Slurs record – 2 flatteners in a single game) on his way to our top score of the season.

A second win (and the safe return of Swayner from his kitty hunting, of course), put a smile back on the ‘Slurs’ faces as we look forward to next week’s return to the Suffolk and a match against Mitre.

14/10/13 v Golden Miller @ Saracens

Mart

7 7 7 7 11 8 47 5

TC

4 6 8 8 9 6 39 -11
Chris 6 8 8 8 7 6 43

11

1st leg total 129 v 124

JT

7 9 5 6 7 5 40 7

Mike

9 4 9 8 8 6 44 3
AS 5 7 9 8 5 8 42

2nd leg total 126 v 116

Clive

8 8 14 5 6 8 49 7

Rich

3 5 5 9 8 1 31 -12
Stu 3 8 7 7 9 5 39 -1

3rd leg total 119 v 125

Rob

5 8 14 7 8 15 57 17

Steve

6 7 8 8 7 7 43
Neil 7 7 8 9 7 6 44

-5

4th leg total 144 v 132

Grand total 518 v 497

WON by 21

‘Slurs Straggle to break their duck

Still desperately seeking that first win of the season, a recuperating Hustlers returned to the Suffolk to face new opponents, Stragglers.

A middling performance from our openers showed a few sparks of hope asthy set a 6-pin lead.  Hope continued to grow as Stavros got our first 40 of the night (and his 1st of the season) & Mike just missed out as they helped extend the lead to 10 pins at half-time.

Losing the raffle caused a bit of a setback, as 3rd leg frittered away 7 pins as they failed to break the ton, although JT did make sure that he strengthened his hold on barry the Brasilian beaver with his second of the season.  A narrow lead, but the anchors stepped up to defend it, despite losing the lead for the 1st time.  Stung into action, Rob then hit our only 9 of the night, only to see Neil go 1 better with our only spare.  So the lead was regained & they battled to hold on to it, with top 40s from Rob & Neil eventually ensuring a first win of the new campaign.

Buouyed by the win, we head off to Saracens next week to face Golden Miller.

7/10/13 v Stragglers @ Suffolk

Steve

8 3 5 5 7 8 36 6

TC

7 3 5 5 8 6 34 -2
Chris 5 3 7 4 6 8 33

2

1st leg total 103 v 97

Pete

6 6 5 1 7 5 30 1

Mike

7 8 8 3 8 5 39 6
AS 7 7 7 5 6 7 36 -1

2nd leg total 109 v 105

JT

4 4 8 5 0 6 27 -7

Rich

7 4 5 7 4 8 35 1
Clive 5 6 7 5 6 7 36 -1

3rd leg total 98 v 105

Rob

5 9 7 7 6 8 42 7

Mart

6 7 6 5 4 8 35 -1
Neil 7 14 6 8 5 4 44

-1

4th leg total 121 v 116

Grand total 431 v 423

WON by 8

Rebels without a win

A still depleted Hustlerst travelled to the Merryfellow for a cup match against felllow pointless skittlers, Rebels and a chance to regain some form.

A steady start this week as 1st leg slowly settled into the game and eased into a 7-pin lead, with Wallsy accounting for our 1st 40 of the night.  Chris continued his 40 form, but Mike & a rusty Lewis struggled tokeep up and we were down by a narrow 2 pins at the midpoint of the game.

With Rich continuing his run of form to score our 3rd 40, Pete narrowly missed joining him, while JT confirmed his ownership of Barry with another stunning beaver as they lost a further pin.  And so it was down to the anchors once more to decide the fate of the match.  And what a fight ensued, with spares from both Rob & Neil as all 3 racked up excellent 40s.  With our best leg of the sdeason so far, they proved a match for the Rebels, but couldn’t quite do enough to beat them.

And so our Hospitals Cup came to an end.  It’s back to normality next week as we return to the Suffolk for the resumption of the League programme.

1/10/13 v Rebels @ Merryfellow

Steve

7 7 7 7 6 7 40

TC

4 4 7 7 8 7 37 3
AS 6 5 8 6 6 4 35

4

1st leg total 112 v 105

Chris

6 6 8 6 6 8 40 -2

Lewis

3 4 7 8 7 6 32 -1
Mike 5 7 5 6 5 6 34 -6

2nd leg total 106 v 115

Pete

6 7 7 6 8 5 39 -3

Rich

6 9 6 8 7 7 42 11
JT 7 0 6 7 3 8 31 -10

3rd leg total 113 v 114

Rob

7 8 10 7 8 8 48 -8

Gary

5 8 8 7 6 8 42 -5
Neil 9 7 12 6 7 8 49

13

4th leg total 139 v 139

Grand total 470 v 473

WON by -3