KO Cup Qualifiers – Sunday March 11th 2007
With my head pounding from the
effects of the previous night’s “Session”, it was a somewhat disorientated Gaz
Calcott that stumbled down the stairs in search of 2 Panadol Extra tablets on
the morning of the KO cup qualifiers. An hour later, with my breakfast feeling
that it may put in an unscheduled re-appearance at any minute, I was bundled
into Baz Hinde’s car and we were off to REDS. Yes, the day that I had spent
weeks in planning, the culmination of over 1000 emails was about to happen – the
Warwickshire Knock Out Cup Qualifiers 2007!
The late withdrawal of Rileys Regulars had left us with 2 groups of 5 teams …. And a lot of matches!
Everyone was there by 12 noon except Top Guns as Chuckie (pic left) was having problems getting his young team together and could only field 6 players (we heard that a couple of them were tagged and couldn’t leave the house!).
In the first round of matches, Cov
Reds had a bit of a let off as Rileys A had to give away several frames due to
players turning up late and Cov won 11-7. Players missing was a major factor in
Nuneaton A’s defeat against Reds Elite with frames being claimed in the first
section.
A major turning point in group 1 was Coventry Reds beating Reds 1 by 13-5. Daz Leeson commented that he’d never seen the side play so badly whilst Baz Hinde commented that he’d never seen his side play! (there you go Baz)
Reds 1 beat Rugby 12-6 to keep themselves in the running whilst Cov Reds took out Top Guns.
The final match of the group was a tense affair between Rugby and Cov Reds as the outcome affected both Cov Reds and REDS 1. The match ended 9-9 which left Cov Reds to top the group with Reds 1 just 2 points behind them in 2nd.
Meanwhile in group 2, Reds Elite were walking away with it
although at one point they were 3-1 down against Rileys XX. The battle for
secon
d
place was decided when Nuneaton A beat the Lions 11-7 and although both teams
had subsequent matches, that’s the way it finished up with Nun A beating Lions
by 1 point to take 2nd place.
Cov Reds thought they’d got a “walk over” in the final as all of Reds Elite, except Martin Kirby and their guest player, “M T Chair”, had F**ked Off home and had to be dragged back to play.
Elite beat Cov Reds 10-5 to take the overall winners spot.
Reds 1 beat Nuneaton A 10-7 to take the 3rd spot and Nuneaton finished 4th.
A good day, but a very long one and I shall be giving much thought into altering the format for the 2008 Qualifiers in order to cut down the amount of time players have to spend at the venue.
My thanks to all of the Captains and the players for keeping the competition moving along with minimum disruption and my eternal thanks to Hazel Parkin for sorting out the score sheets for me whilst I was running around trying to keep the matches flowing.
Also, a note of thanks to Martin Kirby and his hard working staff at REDS.
For myself, I left home at 11am and returned home at 11-15pm clutching a Chinese take-away and somewhat disorientated after having being driven half way around Coventry in the boot of Baz’s car because the back seat was full - The things I do for Pool!