HUSTLERS MAKE MERRY AGAINST TABLE-TOPPING FELLOWS

In an exciting and fairly noisy finish, Hustlers shaded the game against a high-flying and encouragingly youthful Merryfellows.A rather high-powered first leg started well, slightly lost the plot, but then finished strongly with a last hand of 25 composed of Gary’s customary spare and a 9 from Captain Clive helping the team to the narrowest lead of one pin.  Gary made 44 and Clive finished with 41.

On to second leg and again Hustlers started well with both Pete and Chris scoring 9s on their first hand.  Chris repeated the feat on second hand but thereafter the finishing was lacking and Hustlers went down by 13 pins.

Apart from Stuart introducing himself to the opposition with a 9, third leg was nothing to write home about but neither was the Merryfellow’s, with the result that only two further pins were dropped and Hustlers were required to make up a 14 pin deficit on last leg to win the game.

Last leg started well for Hustlers with a beaver from the Merryfellow’s opener.  Good scoring by their other two kept the last leg lead to 3 which was maintained on second hand.  The third hand was crucial, with a 16 spare from Neil helping to reduce the deficit to a mere 3 pins.  By the fourth hand the Hustlers were one ahead.  The fifth hand was shared but a Hustlers last hand of 16 left Merryfellows requiring 18 to win.  Nerves took over and Merryfellow’s last leg crumbled, giving Hustlers the victory by a mere 2 pins.

Next Wednesday we play Telehoist A (now that’s a name from the past!) at Albion House.

Won by +2!