Friday 09 Oct 2020 at 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
2020 Autumn League: Home Vs Clymping Played at Clymping
Another Convincing Win for Handcross Sees them Guarantee Qualification with a Game to Spare
Handcross were due to play Clymping again this time at home. However due to the parish council still not allowing us access to the pavilion and the toilet facilities they were not comfortable with making the journey with us not being able to offer any on site lavatories. Instead we agreed to make the trip to play them again. There was another complication however in that their newly constructed terrain does not have flood flights and thus the game would have to be played during daylight hours meaning the workers in our team would not be able to play. Despite this we still travelled with a strong team and had hopes of coming away victorious. The travelling team consisted of Sam, Bill, John, Mike, Peter and Liam.
The triples were up first and due to the strangeness of the match Clymping got the choices of which terrain to play on and selected the three ‘rough’ terrains to play. The first triples team of Bill, John and Peter managed to win in quick fashion to a score line of 13-7. The team played very well. John and Bill, having recently played at the terrain, now had seemed to master the pointing and Peter was ever consistent with his shooting. Sam, Mike and Liam made up the other triples team and they completed in a strange game. Despite being confidently in control throughout the game the team were unable to benefit from this, regularly scoring only 1 in each end when they should have scored more. This meant the game turned into a long drawn-out scrappy game with the 13-5 score line perhaps flattering the team. The team couldn’t get into rhythm with no clear tactics and Sam and Liam sharing the shooting role to mixed success which going forward might not be the best idea.
With a 2-0 lead once again captain Liam rallied the team for the doubles and tried to push on to get a 5-0 win. The team were split into pairs of John and Peter, Bill and Sam and Mike and Liam. Having already placed score boards on the three ‘rougher’ pistes, Mike and Liam’s opponents now decided they wanted to play on the smooth terrain at the piste. Clearly suiting their playing style Mike and Liam found it difficult to adapt. With the weather now turning and the heavens opening the Handcross team spirit seemed to dwindle and they were beaten 4-13, the first loss for captain Liam since taking on the role. However, brother Peter and his partner John had already managed to secure the match win for Handcross as they fannied their opposition and managed to finish playing before the rain came. Sam and Bill weren’t quite as successful in managing to escape the rain but in terms of the petanque they both played exceptionally and made the victory more convincing by winning 13-5.
Handcross now go on to play Worthing on Thursday knowing they are already group winners. However they will be wanting to cement their place at the top of the league with another good victory. With group seedings implementing qualification position and thus opponents in the knockout stages it is still vitally important that Handcross finish the league in good form.
(Liam Kidd)