On paper away win, on gravel....different story

With the team venturing to winless Pettistree Greyhound and having beaten them 4-0 at the Moot Arena earlier in the season, you could be forgiven for expecting an Aldeburgh away win, as the team push towards a play-off spot. A win would have meant going from third place to top spot above both Suivre Les Boules Playford and The Exiles Bealings.

However, things are not always as clear cut as you think they might be....

Team captain, Jimmy. left the pairings in the usual format with himself and Tina partnering up leaving Simon & Lewis to form the other double. Playing on a deep gravelled car park in brilliant sunshine, the team started off well.

In the first two ends Simon & Lewis took a 5 and a 5 to be 10-0 up straight away and although dropping one point on the next two ends, finished with aplomb as the coch was shot out for the game winning points, 13-2. Our other game saw us lead 6-1 at one stage, only for the home team to rally well and turn it completely around and get a 13-10 victory.

So 1-1 with halfway reached.

The Tina/Simon combination worked well again and with good pointing and a bit of accurate shooting, a 13-0 win was achieved within 8 ends. Again as has often been the case recently, this left the Jimmy/Lewis game as the decider. At one stage the teams were locked at 7-7 but the home sides Pauline played out of her skin and consistently frustrated our pair and finally got herself and partner to a 13-7 scoreline and thus making the match end at 2-2.

A first league point for Pettistree (& deserved on the balance of play) but a missed opportunity for the 'Seasiders' as this will probably now mean that all four points will be required from the remaining two matches, starting next week with the big local derby, away at Golden Key Snape, whom themselves aren't out of the running yet.

On The Road Again

The Aldeburgh team make the reasonably short journey this weekend to the Pettistree Greyhound, for a Deben Division match in the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League, still in the chase for an end of season play-off position.

With other teams in the other divisions racking up big numbers of points, it is probably becoming more likely that the Deben Division group winner will be the only qualifier from our section that will qualify for the play-offs, and a decent win for Aldeburgh will see them jump back to the top of the table.

However, Pettistree are now the only team in the entire 17 team league that has yet to win a match and with the fixture being on their home piste, just about anything could happen with home advantage.

Aldeburgh Carnival Boules Tournament 2009

Club members Simon & Lewis won the 2009 title, after topping their group of 6 teams with 4 wins out of 4, and progressing to the Grand Final, where they beat Robert & Bev (Wheeler?) from Middleton by a score of 13-4.

Other members of the Aldeburgh squad played in the tournament, including Richard & Heather who made the 3rd/4th place play-off.

Overall, an entry of 12 teams played from around 10.30 till about 3pm.

Aldeburgh Carnival Boules Tournament...Places Left

Saturday 15th August 2009
Starts at 10.30am

Maximum of 16 teams of 2 players
Deposit of £5 per team

Please arrive at the Moot Hall piste (opposite The White Lion Hotel) at 10am to find out the order of play.

There are a few spaces left for this tournament, so to enter please contact Councillor Caron Hill on 07890 159320

'Seasiders' climb the table

Subject to results elsewhere, Aldeburgh Boules Club moved into second place of the Deben Division of the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League, following a very good home performance earlier today at the Moot Arena, culminating in a 3-1 victory over Suivres Les Boules Playford.

The visitors, Playford, were currently heading the divisional table and had only suffered one defeat this season, this being the 3-1 defeat by Aldeburgh earlier in the league programme.

Starting with the 'normal' four players, Aldeburgh commenced with Simon & Lewis (fresh from their petanque exploits in Turkey) in the first pairing. Four ends later and Aldeburgh were 1-0 up with a 4,3,1 and 5 scored earning a 'fanny' 13-0 result. Over on the seaward lane Jimmy and Tina started well but eventually went down 13-9 to Playfords Malcolm & Sam.

So with the match poised at 1-1, like most matches seem to, the Aldeburgh team knew a victory was required to give them any hope of reaching the end of seasons play-off. Tina and Simon played a short distance game and secured at least a draw with a 13-3 win over Jim & Malcolm. This left it all up to Jimmy & Lewis, who held the upperhand for the majority of the game and eventually turned in a 13-6 result, giving the Seasiders the two league points and again defeating Playford by a 3-1 scoreline.

Whilst Playford remain top, Aldeburgh are now just two points behind with 2 matches in hand, the first of which is in two weeks time, away at the Pettistree Greyhound team.

Fixture changes for Aldeburgh

Our next scheduled Deben Division match was due to be on Sunday 26th July, away at Pettistree Greyhound. Due to holidays, this has been re-arranged to Sunday 23rd August.

Therefore our next match is in 3 weeks time, on Sunday 9th August, when we play host to our old friends from Playford, Suivre Les Boules.

This will be our last but one home match at the 'Moot Arena' so I'm sure the team would dearly love some local support as they push towards an end-of-season play-off position.

Expected start time would be 10.30am.

Finding the right combination

In our 4 league matches so far this year, we have won 10 games and lost 6.

Below is a comparison of how successful each pairing is so far in 2009;

Simon & Lewis Won 4 out of 4
Lewis & Jimmy Won 2 out of 4
Simon & Tina Won 1 out of 2
Jimmy & Tina Won 1 out of 4
Simon & Caron Won 1 out of 1
Simon & Michael Won 1 out of 1