Despite a fighting defence from a weakened Hustlers team at the Robins Club, Wombles got their revenge for their defeat at the Suffolk earlier in the season.
Marty, with his regulation beaver, helped to ensure the Hustlers got off to their usual start on first leg but recovered well and beat his opponent by 8 pins. However, with Chatz and John both finishing below 30, first leg was our lowest and conceded 11 pins to the opposition.
Second leg started well and, although the scores tailed off in the middle, a decent last hand ensured the evening’s top score of 40 for Lewis, our highest leg, and recovery of 5 pins off the deficit.
Thus encouraged, third leg continued the good work and, without doing anything spectacular, nibbled away at Wombles’ lead and took another 5 pins by the end of the leg. Only one pin now separated the teams.
Optimism was rife and, with what on paper looked a strong last leg, the prospect of doing the double against the Wombles seemed quite possible. Alas, Hustlers flattered to deceive and none of our last leg did the business. In the face of two 40s by the opposition, Hustlers managed to lose 19 pins on last leg and had to settle for second place with all three last leg players possibly polishing their pants next week.
| Away vs Wombles 23 Jan 17 – Lost by 20 | |||||||||
| Place | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | V man! |
| 1 | Marty | 0 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 35 | 8 |
| 2 | Chatz | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 28 | -6 |
| 3 | John | 6 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 26 | -13 |
| Leg | 9 | 16 | 20 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 89 | -11 | |
| 4 | Lewis | 6 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 40 | 11 |
| 5 | Andy | 7 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 32 | -1 |
| 6 | Dave | 6 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 33 | -5 |
| Leg | 19 | 19 | 11 | 17 | 16 | 23 | 105 | 5 | |
| 7 | Steve | 6 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 36 | 6 |
| 8 | Rich | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 32 | 1 |
| 9 | Swayner | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 35 | -2 |
| Leg | 20 | 14 | 15 | 21 | 17 | 16 | 103 | 5 | |
| 10 | Rob | 6 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 34 | 0 |
| 11 | Pete | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 33 | -10 |
| 12 | Neil | 8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 31 | -9 |
| Leg | 19 | 16 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 13 | 98 | -19 | |
| Wombles 415 v 395 Hustlers | |||||||||