West Yorkshire League

West Yorkshire League

Mirfield v Leeds

A bright start to the day weather wise.
Leeds team were keen to extend their lead at the top of the league table. Mirfield had different ideas.

The first triple saw Jim, Kevin and Shirley lose 7 points to Leeds 13 points against Paul Mathews, Janice Colbeck and Jo Dean.

However, Harry and Diane continued their winning streak, ably assisted by Tony H, beating Rosanna Smith, Mick Brown and Kevin Colbeck of Leeds by a creditable 13 points to 3.
So, with one game each, it was time for a welcome glass of orange juice before commencing with the pairs.

First to finish was Jim and Tony H, but not in the way they would have wished. Sadly they were beaten by the Leeds duo of Jo and Mick, who scored 13 points to our 0. A disappointing start to the pairs and putting Leeds ahead by 2 games to our 1.

Next to finish was Harry and Diane who were playing against Rosanna and Kevin.

Some excellent first pointing shots were made by Diane, forcing Rosanna to try and shoot it out. But it was not her day. She missed far more than she hit. Diane wisely kept her pointing long to make shooting difficult for Leeds. Eventually, Diane pointed the final boule to give the Mirfield pair a fabulous win, scoring 13 points to 2. Harry and Diane are currently unbeaten in the four games they have played.

Now the game got really tense, because each team had two game wins each and it was down to the last pair to decide the winning club.

Kevin and Shirley were up against Paul and Janice, arguably the strongest Leeds players. Things were not going Mirfield's way to start with. But Kevin and Shirley were determined to win and slowly gained points until they were on 10. Only three points were needed to take the game and win the match.

Leeds had played their boules and were holding point very close to the coche. Shirley had three boules in hand and her first boule nestled in between the Leeds boule and the coche, taking the point from Leeds.

Two more points were needed to secure the win. Shirley sent her second boule which was as good as her first and was again closer than the Leeds boule.

Tension was mounting and both the Leeds players and Mirfield players were watching intently. Could Shirley manage to get her third and last boule in too?

Shirley pointed in calmly and her boule followed her previous two to give her the three points to win the game 13-8 and win the match 3 game wins to 2 with a 46 points against Leeds' 39 points.
What a dramatic end. The crowd went wild. Well done Kevin and Shirley.

This result has given Mirfield four match wins out of four and a total of 12 game wins, putting us one game win behind Leeds and second in the league table.

Can we continue our winning streak when we play Harrogate away on Thursday? Only time will tell.

Harry Overend

Following the afternoon's social melee everyone retired to the pavilion to enjoy birthday cakes supplied by Dawn. Thank you Dawn.

We also presented soon to be newly weds Tony and Jackie with flowers, bubbly and a card. They invited anyone who was in the area to attend the clubhouse following Monday's Month End Melee for a celebratory tipple and piece of cake.


Note from Tony .....
It was great to see Robin and Carole at Petanque this afternoon, just like old times. I hope you got home OK on our super reliable trains!

Members asked me to extend our congratulations to Robin on receiving the King’s Award for Community Service. He has done so much over the years for the hospice movement and many other organisations, including MPC. It is well deserved and we all salute both of you for all your efforts.
On a personal note, thank you so much for our handmade card, it is beautiful and something we will treasure.
All the best,