Match Report – Devon B 24-20 Bristol B

Another great start to the season.  Were bigger and stronger and you can see it in our confidence.  We are reigning Region 6 champions and any team wanting to take that away from us are going to have to be

exceptional.  At the start of the day any kind of win against quality opponents would have done and it was clear

to see from early on that our class was going to shine through.  We kicked off with a 7-4 first set win which was followed up with awesome 8-3 2nd & 3rd set wins giving us a 23-10 lead. I have to say my only minor concern

was letting these guys back in.  We had a disappointing 4th set, going 7-2 down before Kevin Smith and myself won the last two frames to lose the set 7-4, wrapping up a 27-17 victory. In reflection what a great result but it could have been 30 or even more. Its not a criticism, its just an observation. I feel part of my job this season as captain is to ensure we kick on from our achievements last year. I want us to go to the nationals year upon year and even win the thing on a regular basis. I feel we have a squad and a spirit to set our sights as high as Staffordshire who have won the B team Nationals five times in the last 6 years. I want us to have some of that please. So rather than rest on my laurels Im going to try and nit pick and look at ways we can improve, no

matter how small, and I feel our 4th set performance does need looking at. In our last three competitive

matches we have lost the 4th set each time. I don’t know the cause. It could be complacency, It could be too much booze. Ive even considered its when the food is ready or maybe they were just better than us!! Either way lets work together to ensure we get the balance right in the 4th sets and really put all of our opponents away.   

 

Man of the Match

Lots of good performances and I have a massive selection headache next month, which is a great position to be in.  In all 5 players achieved 3 wins from 4 frames (Mark Stevens, Alex Leggate, Colin Chilcott, Kevin Smith and yours truly) Man of the match goes to Marcus Foster who managed a 4 out of 4 on his debut.  The nerves were there, as you would expect! Hell I still get them now, but to achieve what he did in his first game is second to none.

 

Next Match

I cant hype up Devon away enough.  It’s the biggest game of our season and we haven’t won there for getting on 10 years!  I think we will revert to experience as the new boys will see what a different class this team is.  You may not be safe if you got a 2 out of 4 against Cornwall!  Were a much bigger and stronger squad this year and I will use an element of rotation in order to get people on the minimum 5 matches.  Last season saw us going in to the final set  leading 17-16, only for us to go down 8-3 to lose the match 20-24.  Granted it didn’t effect us qualifying for the Nationals but it just confirms my point about our last set performance.  Lets put an end to it, starting now!  This is our biggest threat along with Somerset.  Lets hit them hard boys!

 

Table

 

Rankings

P

Team

Pl

Pts

 

P

Name

Pl

W

L

Pts

1

Devon

1

36

 

1

Marcus Foster

8

6

2

12

2

Somerset

1

36

 

2

Kevin Smith

8

6

2

12

3

Bristol

1

32

 

3

Alex Leggate

8

5

3

12

4

Cornwall

1

17

 

4

Lee Rossiter

8

5

3

10

5

Dorset

1

13

 

5

Jon Millard

8

5

3

10

6

Wiltshire

1

13

 

6

Colin Chilcott

7

4

3

8