No action for Aldeburgh this week

Although the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League has a full set of matches scheduled for this weekend, the Aldeburgh team are the side that take their turn sitting out, in the 5 team Deben Division.

However the team take to the piste again in a fortnights time when they make the journey to face Hollesley Shepherd & Dog, which is fast looking like a possible top spot decider, however The Exiles and Suivre Les Boule may still have some say in the final outcome.

The day the wheels fell off!!

Whilst winning is a nice feeling, losing is a bad one, especially when you know you didn't play well. Such was the case on Sunday when the Aldeburgh team, who despite leading the Deben Division of the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League, were outplayed by The Exiles team at their new home location of Bealings.

The piste itself is 'interesting' to say the least but then again, it's the same for both sides and it was The Exiles who got to grips with it much better and faster than Aldeburgh. After Jimmy & Tina had lost their game after being in the lead for the majority of the game, Simon & Lewis played poorly on the other side of the piste and at halfway Aldeburgh were already 2-0 down.

Captain Jimmy chose to pair up with Lewis, leaving Simon & Tina as the other combination and it was this pairing who at least brought the score to 2-1 but it was not enough as Jimmy/Lewis succumbed to a heavy loss, leaving The Exiles with a 3-1 win and the league points.

The next match for the team is probably Tuesday 1st July away at Hollesley Shepherd & Dog

Table toppers visit Playford this weekend

This week sees the team play away against The Exiles, and although originally scheduled to be played at Melton, due to the Exiles switching home bases, the match will now be played at the Playford Community Hall.

The match is on Sunday 1st June with an approximate start of 10.30am.

Expected line-up: Jimmy, Tina, Simon & Lewis

The team earn first win away

With a few enforced team changes due to our captain having the slight distraction of becoming Mayor of Aldeburgh, the club visited the piste at Melton for the first time this season, to play the host club, Ye Olde Coach & Horses.

The team started off with wins in both of the opening games to open up a 2-0 lead early on. The piste gives the impression that it is reasonably level but once playing on it, it became apparent that the slight slope to the bottom corner certainly makes the boule roll further than you expect. However to counter-act this, a high lob then makes your boule stop dead especially around the middle section of the piste.

Once the second set of pairings were under way, some good pointing by Aldeburgh saw the visiting team complete the job and register a 4-0 away day triumph.

On another day, the piste could quite easily make the match score somewhat different and Aldeburgh are due to visit Melton again in 2 weeks time.

Next match coming up

Deben Division
Suffolk Coastal Petanque League

Match 3

Sunday May 18th 2008

Ye Olde Coach & Horses Melton v Aldeburgh Boules Club

Our first official away match sees us try out the new piste in Melton where Chris & Veronica will make us very welcome at their 16th Century coaching inn, whilst we face David's team on the field of play.

Aldeburgh register league victory

Aldeburgh played host to Suivre Les Boules Playford on Sunday May 4th and registered our first win in the Deben Division of the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League.

Team Line Up: Jimmy Robinson (Captain), Tina Robinson, Simon Fletcher, Lewis Fletcher

Under glorious skies (surely wasnt a Bank Holiday weekend was it?), the team converged at the Moot Hall piste for a 10.30am start against fellow unbeaten opponents from the Playford club.

Whilst the team welcomed Jimmy & Tina for the first time this season, Suivres team saw 2 changes from the side that had earnt a 2-2 draw against The Exiles last weekend.

With a gathering audience the match started with Jimmy & Tina on the 'seaboard' piste whilst Simon & Lewis were on the 'roadside' piste. In two games that were equally tense the progression of the games were markedly different.

Simon & Lewis were playing Suivres captain Joy and his team-mate Jimmy and the game swung backwards and forwards with each team seemingly taking turns to be in the lead and then letting the opponents leap frog them on the scoreboard on the following end. However when Suivre took a 9-8 lead, things looked shaky for the home team. However Lewis played all 3 of his boule in and Simon followed with 2 more to take a big five a secure the first game 13-9.

Jimmy & Tinas game looked like it was going to finish quite quickly when they raced to a sizable early lead, only to then get stuck on 12 points and from there Playford kept plugging away until the score was 12-11 and finally Aldeburgh nicked a point to prevent the 'come from behind' win.

So at the halfway point Aldeburgh were 2 -0 up in games and therefore the minimum result was going to be a draw. However in this league with so few matches to play this year, you need wins rather than draws to finish in the top two.

Jimmy paired himself with Lewis and they faced Jimmy & Hans on Piste One. With Lewis' pointing being more accurate than in his first match, he turned in a display which allowed him & Jimmy to earn a 13-7 win and the overall match win for Aldeburgh.

Meanwhile Tina & Simon were having a harder time of it on Piste Two with a piste that was running so fast that it was difficult to point accurately enough. However Suivres team managed it better and deserved their 13-9 moment of glory over the home side.

A 3-1 win, 2 league points and we now sit at the top of the league table for a while (depending upon Hollesleys Tuesday night match v Ye Olde Coach & Horses Melton).

Player of the Match - Lewis Fletcher 2 wins out of 2 (+10 points difference)

Sunday May 4th v Suivre Les Boule Playford

Our next match in the Deben Division of the Suffolk Coastal Petanque League is this Sunday, May 4th, at home to Suivre Les Boule Playford, starting at approximately 10.30am.

We will be using the Mill Inn this time around for our pre and post match refreshments.

Team Line Up (Currently) : Jimmy Robinson (Captain), Tina Robinson, Simon Fletcher, Lewis Fletcher

All spectators are welcome to cheer the teams on.