South Of England Championship Final: David Harrison-Wood beat David Goacher +1(T) -1(T) -10 +11 OTP +7 TPO

[<<] [>>] by David Harrison-Wood
5th November 2003 (AC - Championships)

The result in full of the South Of England Championship Final (deferred from 14th September), played on 30th September-1st October, is as follows:
David Harrison-Wood beat David Goacher +1(T) -1(T) -10 +11 OTP +7 TPO.

As the results of the first two games at Compton were inconclusive, and there was less than half an hour of light left, it was agreed between the Manager and players that the decider would be played at a later date.
David Goacher nobly volunteered to drive to Parkstone for the match. We had initially pencilled in October 11th but, following a good weather forecast and with the promise of a fast lawn, we decided that September 30th was a better prospect.

Because the previous games had been curtailed by time limits, leading to somewhat artificial results, we believed that nothing less than a full best-of-three would befit this Championship final. As a consequence, the match lasted some 8 ½ hours, and we had to conclude it the following morning!

In the first game, Goacher hit in the 4th turn but failed to progress further than hoop 2. Harrison-Wood hit in and made a leave, then after the shot was missed failed to run hoop 1 by 1 mm! Goacher hit in and went to 4-back, leaving a diagonal spread. The long lift shot was missed and he embarked on his triple, only to stick on the wire of Rover doing the straight peel. After Goacher knocked the ball away, Harrison-Wood hit and went to 4-back, again with a d/s. Goacher missed the lift shot, and Harrison-Wood promptly stuck in hoop 1 again! As this was against G's peg ball, a leave was made for Rover. The long shot was missed, and Goacher rushed to the peg, took off to the other balls and got a rush back to Rover-then clanged it, leaving Harrison-Wood an easy hit-in. However, this was his forward ball, so he made a leave at hoop 1 and Goacher missed the 20-yd shot into corner 3. Failing to get going from this, the leave was repeated; this time the miss into corner 3 enabled the break to start. Unfortunately Harrison-Wood failed 2-back, allowing Goacher to finish +10. Owing to a late start (heavy traffic around Bristol) and a lunch break, the 3 hr 25 min of play didn't finish until 1540.

The second game was much more fluent, and lasted only 1 hr 40 min. Harrison-Wood hit in the second turn, rolling both balls to the middle. Goacher hit in the third and started to go round, unluckily going off while trying to pick up the deep pioneer at hoop 4. This left a short shot for the fourth ball, so Harrison-Wood went round to 4-back with a NSL. Goacher hit the lift shot with his backward ball and did a TPO, leaving his peg ball (K) in corner 3 and his hoop 4 ball (U) in the middle of the W boundary. From the contact (in the 6th turn!), Harrison-Wood under-rolled, sending K past hoop 2 and his ball rather short (10 yds) of U. He hit it (just!), took off to hoop 1 and ran the 5 ft slightly angled hoop, ending level with U. He hit the 6-yarder and finished with a 3-ball break: +11 OTP.

At 1730, with just over an hour and a half of light left, we embarked on the third game. The first hoop wasn't run until the 7th turn, and even then further progress was not possible given two balls 16 yds apart on the E boundary, so Goacher made a solid leave. Harrison-Wood turned down the 15 yd shot from hoop 2 to hoop 3, as a miss would give an easy break, and played into corner 1; Goacher went round to 4-back anyway, but left a rather sloppy NSL. Harrison-Wood hit the double-target presented from B-baulk and did a TPO, leaving one ball in corner 2 and the other on the E boundary, wired from the front of hoop 1 by hoop 4. Goacher took his contact in corner 2, rolling R to just N of hoop 3 and his ball to Y. After the roquet hoop 4 no longer presented a problem, but he played the split shot a little short and could only take position for hoop 1; Harrison-Wood sent Y to just W of corner 4. Now the tactical play started in earnest, and we were both glad of the lack of time constraints which meant that we would be able to bring the game, and the Championship, to a natural and artistic conclusion! Ten turns (each) later, the gathering gloom forced us to peg down the game.

We resumed the following morning, on a freshly-mown lawn. This second part lasted exactly as long as the first part (1 hr 45 mins), making 3 ½ hrs in total for the final game. Play was cautious, each player aware of the other's abilities, the longest break being three hoops. When the score reached 3-back v. 4, Harrison-Wood pegged out his forward ball, leaving the remaining two balls for the same hoop! Goacher lost that battle, but did run three more hoops before Harrison-Wood eventually triumphed with a 2-ball break for the last two hoops: +7 TPO.