Match Report – Bristol B 24-20 Devon B

Top class boys. Im running out of good things to say about you all, but please don’t let that stop you from performing! Im so proud of the way we have come out this year, even though we are already going to Yarmouth, to try and win this Region 6 title for the second year in a row. A feat never achieved by a Bristol B side in the past. Lets be the first! We had a 8 point deficit to overturn against Devon and that’s exactly what we did. Superb. We started the day in slightly controversial fashion after I made four players reserve, simply for not contacting me. Please just text me, that’s all I ask. Simply putting it, if you don’t contact me you will be a reserve. If you don’t like it, then you only have yourself to blame. There’s no excuses. There are 19 players in this team and its hard enough to pick a team as it is. Now saying that you all noticed I put Mick in the side at the last minute after I knew he would be here by 12-15. Even though the letter states 11-30, I made the decision as captain to play him for a few reasons which have been communicated to the two affected players. The only thing I wanted to mention is that Mick received no preferential treatment and it’s the one and only time it will happen. From now on If a player is late I will not name him in the starting 11. We had a bad start in the match going down 4-1 in pretty quick fashion. We turned around in the first set but still trailed 5-6 by the end. A classy second set saw us win 7-4 and open up a 12-10 lead. The exact same scores in Sets 3 and 4 as in Sets 1 and 2 saw a repeat 12-10 score to wrap up a 24-20 win. Dave Barrett, Mick Dagostino and myself winning the last 3 frames from 21-20 up. It puts us one point clear at the top over Devon and with the better fixtures remaining its now in our hands to go and win the region.

Man of the Match

Alex Leggate, Dave Barrett and myself all had a good day achieving 3 out of 4 wins, however Mick Dagostino is my man of the match for his second 4 out of 4 in a row, justifying why I felt I had to put him in the side for this particular game. He’s now 8 out of 8 and going for 12 against Dorset!.

Next Match

Dorset at home!!! Again the pressure reverts to us and we have to perform collectively as a team to get the biggest result possible. Somerset are playing Devon and a repeat of our 31-13 win last season will, I feel, strengthen our lead at the top of the table. Lets keep the pressure on them and win every frame we can!! Team selection is as always tricky and this game will be no different. I do feel we are benefiting from the strength and depth in our team. You just had to see our reserve list against Devon to see that. As in the Devon game I will be looking at who needs those all important appearances to make sure we all get to Yarmouth and offset that against who I feel can get the biggest result possible. I know it’s a disappointment if you don’t make the top 11 but were all in this together and were all vital to ensuring another successful year!

Table				Rankings
P	Team	Pl	Pts	P	Name	Pl	W	L	Pts
1	Bristol	7	206	1	Alex Leggate	28	18	10	42
2	Devon	7	205	2	Daniel Darlington	26	16	10	35
3	Somerset	7	193	3	Colin Chilcott	27	16	11	32
4	Cornwall	7	149	4	Lee Rossiter	24	15	9	30
5	Dorset	6	106	5	Ryan Brook	22	11	11	22
6	Wiltshire	6	96	6	Terry Nelson	22	11	11	22