A magnificent team performance by the Dream Team in the premier cup competition of the year. A good draw in the semi-final against the Smithswood Social (the weaker of the three other teams although still from a higher league) helped, but a depleted squad (no John Savage or Dean Willis) meant that confidence was a little low to start with.
In the semi-final Jeff Tune showed that he is still a class player, getting the team off to the best start by winning his game. Bob Harris and Bill Townsend both lost games they could have won, but Alan Smith restored equality with a fine win. Mark Franks did not play to his best but still won.
It has to be said that Terry put his strongest players first and that to be only 3-2 up left the rest of the team with what could have been a hard struggle. Terry played the captain's innings though winning a game he looked like losing including a 112 finish to secure the game. Cowboy Dave Downes looked nervous but so did his opponent and Dave calmed himself well to win 2-0 and secure a place in the final. Steve Davies and Simon Moss played out the last two games, indeed Simon was a little unlucky not to win his, but euphoria had taken over and the results did not matter.
The final was, for the British among you, like Walsall playing Man Utd in the FA Cup Final. The Digby are a class above everyone else. They have already secured the Premier League title and have made the final stages of both cups. In the semi final of this one they beat the second placed Premier team 8-1 and had beaten The Dream Team 8-1 in the quarter finals of the Alf Austin Cup. The Final was a closer game than the score suggests and observers would not have been surprised if the score had been 5-2 the other way. All seven players who played threw well with fine wins for Bill Townsend and Terry Galt. Bob Harris is deserving of a mention throwing two 140s and a 120 but losing 2-1.
I have deliberately not dwelt on the individual performances as this was a team effort. Support was kept up all night and The Dream Team demonstrated that they should not be languishing in fourth place in the third division. There are three league games left and wins in all three may still win promotion to the second division which would be a fair outcome.