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It was also a comfortable win for Knodishall in Group 3, again they won all their games
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and were 4 points ahead of runners-up Barrow who made it through by a single shot. It
was the same story for Group 4, Symonds Green dominated the group and finished on
maximum points with Over making it through on two wins and superior shots.
Kelsale dropped just one point in winning Group 5, runners-up Stanstead Abbotts won
three games and lost one to finish a point behind. Wimbish also dropped just a single point on
their way to winning Group 6 with Durham in second on 6 points. Knodishall won all 4 of their
games to finish top of Group 7 while 2 wins and a draw was good enough for Brockdish to qualify
as runners-up. Finally, Lakeside secured 4 wins to top Group 8, ahead of Claydon who lost just
once as they comfortably qualified.
In the First Round, Barking/Claydon just edged out Claydon with a 5-4 win, Brockley eased
past Brockdish 9-3, Knodishall took a resounding 9-0 win over Durham, Stanstead Abbotts got
the best of Symonds Green/Stanstead Abbotts in another local derby 7-2,
Over held on to beat Kelsale 9-7, Wishbish were comfortable winners over Barrow 11-3,
Stanstead Abbotts romped home to a 14-1 win over Knodishall and Lakeside just held on to
beat Sunderland 5-4.
In the Quarter Finals, Over finished with a little bit in hand against Wimbish, winning 6-4,
Stanstead Abbotts took an early lead over Knodishall and were never in danger as they won 8-
5, Barking/Claydon were always ahead of Brockley, finishing 6-5 winners and Lakeside eased
their way to a 9-3 victory over Stanstead Abbotts.
The Semi’s saw a nice mix of teams with 4 different
counties, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and
Sunderland all represented. Stanstead Abbotts
(Herts) v Barking/Claydon (Suffolk). The final score
of 8-7 to Stanstead Abbotts may look like it was a
tight game, but the scorecard tells a different story.
The eventual winners had edged their way into
the lead in the first half of the game with
Barking/Claydon taking until the 4th end to open their
account, making the score 4-1, but the 5th end saw
Stanstead Abbotts taking 4 and giving themselves a
7-shot lead with 2 ends to go.
Three shots were taken back on the penultit-
Finalists Stanstead Abbotts
Finalists Stanstead Abbotts mate end and although Barking/Claydon got another
3 back on the last to give the result an air of respectability, that extra shot to take the game to
another end was never really on the cards.
In the other Semi-final, Over (Cambridgeshire), faced Lakeside from Sunderland. This
game too saw one team pretty much dominate, Over were 3-0 up after 2 ends, although Lake-
side pulled one back on the third. That, however, was it for the Sunderland team, Over ticked
off the next 3 ends to take themselves into an unassailable 9-1 lead after 6 ends at which time
an end was called to proceedings.
In the Final, Stanstead Abbotts (Paul Harris, Marilyn Cook & Ben Summerfield) faced
Over’s Paul Graham, Jamie Smith & Gary Blunsten. Sadly, for the very impressive crowd who
stayed on to watch the final, it was a game that in reality was pretty much over as soon as it
began as Over had a dream start, picking up 4 shots on the very first end. Stanton Abbotts did
manage to pull 2 shots back on the next end, but hopes of a comeback were slowly crushed as
Over took one shot on each of the next 4 ends.
That left the Hertfordshire team needing an all but impossible 6 on the final end just to
take the game into overtime, but it was never going to happen. They did take the end, but
Over kept them down to just two to win the game 8-4. Many thanks to Hertfordshire for all
their efforts, for so many of the competitors who had travelled so far and for all those who
stayed on to witness the final.