The B team suffered their second defeat in under a week to see our promotion hopes all but gone. With just three matches left to play, it would take a minor miracle to finish in the top two places as we are 4 points adrift, with Church Stretton A next to play!! However, we must keep plugging away and try and secure the third spot, which would be a fine achievement for the team.
For those of a show-jumping disposition, like me, our clear round came to an abrupt halt, with 2 fences down in succession and 3 fences still to jump, although we have rattled a few poles on the way!
We went down 3½-1½ to Telford B (played at Telford, but we were the home team). Draw master, “Lethal” Lewis, was first to finish on 4, by securing (you guessed it) a draw with Roger Brown (I have to say I didn’t see much of any of the games played, being too busy concentrating on my own dour performance).
Mark then lost his second game in succession on board 1, playing Stuart Ross. Ivor was having a tough time of it on board 3 against Windsor Peck, being a piece down for most of the game, and finally succumbed after his offer of a draw was turned down.
Two wins needed to get a draw is how we finished our away encounter to them previously (played at Shrewsbury – I know, don’t ask!) but sadly my game against Andy Jones on board 5, which started off very promisingly, somehow quickly deteriorated and I was squashed by massive central pressure. I was feeling very tired, although not as tired as Andy, who confided that he nearly fell asleep during the opening (who said the French Defence was boring!?)
Match lost then, but Norman cheered us all up when he pulled of a sensational mate against Richard Thompson on board 2 with just 6 seconds remaining on his clock. How cool is that!?
Ian Davies, B Team Captain