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Div 4B Week 12
The weeks come thick and fast now as we begin to get into the business end of the season, with our sides getting their elbows out as the Div 4A and B redraft looms in a couple of weeks.
Arrows Impossibility v Bishop's Fist
First up we venture south to the Clapham North with both teams looking for their first victory for a few weeks. This was a match that was largely defined by the opening exchanges with Bishop's Fist looking in menacing mood, round one saw them clinch in decisively 9-2 all without a full house. Round two was a similar story, 7-3 for a hefty 16-5 lead to the Fist. Arrows upped their game but crucially Bishop's didn't see a considerable enough drop in theirs. A 28-14 half time lead extended out further throughout the second half and Bishop's Fist ran out comfortable 48-27 victors. Notable in this game was that Bishop's Fist tallied division high two-pointers and both teams topped the Xs.
For the Fist, Jason Hill scored an excellent 18(5) ably supported by a couple more 5 owns by Messrs Bulgarelli and Clarkson. Alex Bulgarelli's 12(5) was not only a moral full house (I can't imagine too many of them happen with five owns) but was good enough for a spot on, sound the klaxon, THE QLL TOTW!! Great effort Alex. For Arrows, Eli Persky top scored with a seat 1A division high 9(4)- shows what a tough seat it was.
Dense & Densibility v Hard Hat
Hand & Shears up next with the Div 4B alliteration derby with the last fixture back in October resulting in very exciting draw. Similar sort of start to our first game of the week with the away team opening up a sizable lead after the first two rounds: 12-5 to the Hat. D&D dusted themselves off though and landed a couple of counter punches, narrowing the gap at half-time to three: 21-18 to HH. Round five began in similar fashion to round one with HH clinching it 6-3, finches and Shakespeare proving popular, Sharon Watts' poodle not so much. The rest of the tie saw D&D locked into four point rounds while Hard Hat gorged themselves on bonuses and despite only taking 3 two pointers in the last three rounds, the Hat ran out comfortable winners 42-33.
For Hard Hat, it was the perennial top scorer Steve Donoghue with a rare 17(4) score. Bryn Evans also joined him with a bonus heavy score, 13(3) for him. For D&D Mark Deeks led the way with 16(4) with Owen Iredale joining him on four owns.
Grinling Gibbons v Hydra
To the Gipsy Queen next as our friendly writers Grinling Gibbons host the many-headed Hydra who also graciously provided a reader. This was a great game full of twists and turns and belied its final scoreline. The opening three rounds were all tight but GG were able to eke out a slight margin, 16-14 up. Round four saw them then turn the screw a bit and that two-point lead grew to five as the teams turned into the second half. Round five proved a challenging round for both sides with no two pointers being picked up. Emily Cooper and Sophia Lavecchia then led the Gibbons out to a six-point lead at the end of round six and it looked like a victory was a formality. But a formality it was NOT! Round seven saw a phenomenal comeback by Hydra with their knowledge of some lesser-known Castilian Queens, some greater-known Catalonian churches, some French interweb surfing terms, and a dash of Italian baroque taking them out to a HOUSE BONUS. Great work from the division's newest team. That saw the scores narrow to 33-32 to GG but I don't know whether Hydra found themselves spent of GG were stung into action. Either way, the tension quickly evaporated as GG took the final round 8-2 and clinched a 41-34 victory. Still, Hydra got the not so scant consolation of the house bonus.
For Grinling Gibbons, Sophia Lavecchia led the owns count with 10(4) whilst Emily Cooper and Simon Koppel led the scoring charts with 12(3) and 13(3) respectively. For Hydra, there were even contributions from all with Rohan Desai's 11(3) leading the way, ably supported by Melinda Hornby's 10(3).
Sigourney Beaver v Doolittles
To Paddington now for the top of the table clash between Sigourney Beaver and Doolittles with the away side looking to narrow the gap at the top and the home side looking to lengthen their lead to something potentially insurmountable. SB were also after a spot of revenge in this game as Doolittles clinched a tight game back in October. The first half saw Doolittles take the opening and closing rounds by two with little to choose in between, put them all together though and it was a decent 25-20 margin to the away side as half time loomed. Second half saw Doolittles initially build on their lead, round five going 6-3 in their favour as Messrs Colmans and Jenner mopped up the bonuses and Doolittles extended out to an eight-point lead. Rounds six and seven saw SB halve this gap as the game entered its endgame. Unfortunately for Sigourney Beaver the final round saw them unable to pick up the two-pointers early doors that they needed to apply the pressure on the anchor seats. In the end Doolittles were able to take the win 46-39.
For Doolittles, Josh Benfield led the way with 16(6) with excellent support from Finn Dignan's 11(4). On the Beaver's side Dean Strachan led the way with 14(5) that including the best solo 2 of the night with Beth Shriever.
Round-up
So that's it, not the closest week in terms of margin of scores but really happy with Hydra's house bonus and some AOTW and TOTW appearances from some Div 4Bers. The table looks pretty tasty at the top now with barely anything to separate Sigourney Beaver and Doolittles. Next week sees our top two both face challenging games against Grinling Gibbons and Hard Hat in what could be potential banana skins and see the table bunch up once again. See you then.
TOTW
Eli Persky (2), Steve Donoghue (7), Finn Dignan (5), Josh Benfield (2)
v
Jason Hill, Ashwin Kumar (6), Alex Bulgarelli (2), Lloyd Clarkson
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