March 2010

It's been a mixed bag for the skittles team since the last update with a few highs, a few more lows and two new captains!      

The team did reasonably  well in the xmas tournament (organised by our own Ken Roberts) with a comprehensive win over the social club and two defeats to more seasoned campaigners the Cavemen and Frocester. The highlight came in climax of the tournament a pairs knockout held on a saturday night in front of a capacity crowd, which was won in style by our own K Roberts and Joe H-P who defeated our own T Roberts and M Collins in a thrilling final! Maybe we should play Saturday nights?!

In the league its been more lows than highs! Joe Hill-Pemberton took over the reigns from previous captain T Roberts but his spell was short lived after getting shown the revolving door after one game! Mark Collins (psycho) was then placed in charge but fortunes were not much better with defeats against The Vic, MEB, The Rose and 3C's without gaining a single point. A much improved performance at matchplay against The Reformers saw the team put in some decent scores with Jon Panton , Andy Penrith, and Joe H-P all scoring 57 in the first half and M Collins 60 and A Sargent 67 the pick of the second half.

The next match saw us welcome Kings Stanley Wanderers to the social club and the first half were unable to match their opponents despite good scores from Tom Pass 51 and M Collins 59, and lost by 13. The second half was a different kettle of fish and played excellently to win by 17 and gain a valuable 4 points with a 4 pin margin!!  Joe H-P 53, Mark Davis 53, Andy Sargent 55, T Roberts 46 and K Roberts 45 were the victorious five in the second half.  It was then on to the local derby against the social club which some were calling a massive 6 pointer! Once again the football club came to the party and a first half of Jamie V 52, T Pass 51,( a much improved under the new captaincy!) Ben Knapman 53, Andy Penrith 56 and M Collins 50 were too good for the club and picked up a rare 2 points with an 11 pin advantage! The second half of JHP 53, A Sargent 60, Mark Davis 49, T Roberts 54 and K Roberts 56 were even better winning by a massive 30 pins! Once again 6 points was picked up against our closest rivals and the team left in high spirits ready for the challenge of our next opponents top of the league Malaccas!

In a high scoring game at Matchplay (where else?!) Stanley took the challenge to the top of the league Malaccas and although lost the first half by 16, they put a decent fight especially  B Knapman 58. The second half was thrilling stuff with some top skittling by both teams (special note goes to Rockys trainer 'Mickey' still going and a quality hat!).  A great start by Stanley saw them take an early lead but eventually got pegged back and set up a tense final leg but good scoring by the Malaccas proved to tough for Stanley and ended up losing by 9. Second half Scores were Brad (Wesley) 52, Mark Davis 60, M Collins 59, T Roberts 59 and a special mention to our new highest scorer Ken Roberts with a huge 75 including 3 spares!!

The team would like to thank the Social Club and Rita for the food and hospitality

October

 October did not see the Stanley skittles side push on after their first victory at the start of the month that saw loses to the reformers, 3Ds, and the MEB. Improved performances by A. Sargent and B. Knapmen has seen stanleys first half steadily improve. With Knapman shouldering his rsponsibilities as captain Roberts jnr took the reins and seen inconsistent form along with J. Pemberton, J. Versaci and B. Brinkworth. The ever reliant K. Roberts has seen himself become Leonard Stanley SC skittles champion 2009 defeating all comers to be crowned champion on 5.11.09. Steady performances from M. Davis and K. Roberts has brought some stability to the side and with P. Gardner when available the squad looks to have depth.Stanley now look onwards to the run up to Christmas looking to pick themselves up from the bottom which starts with the leonard derby on 13.11.09.We hope for a better month than the previous 2!!!PS. Thanks to all the players for turning up week in and week out (Mr Gardner exception) and thanks Rita and the social club for their continued hospitality

LSFC first month of skittles couldnt have got off to a better start with a friendly victory over the social club. However the honeymoon period didn't last long as the first league game at home to the razers seen stanley overhauled by a 52 point margin which saw embarrassing figures from Paul Garner, B. Knapman and J. Yemm !
The second game as stanley thought it couldn't get any worse as they travelled to stroud rugby club (comrades)and came away 72 point deficit and return without any points. Low scored from M. Fanstone and A. Roberts concluded the defeat in an embarrassing way !
Then the second home game seen the visit of the boozers from the vic eastington and a improved first half by J. Versai, J. Pemberton seen the first half lose by a 10  point margin. Then the second half turned up the heat with A. Roberts wiith 2 spares and a top score of 63 and B. Brinkworth continuing to shine and the old heads of davis and roberts to prop up the rear. Stanley seemed to have snatch all 4 points but for Roberts (senior)  to fail by two pins as he seeked victory but still got 2 strong second half points to get them off the mark.