This week has been the quietest week at the club for several months. It is a rare Wednesday that there is no league match at The Mals, but 11th January was one such occasion. There was however one of our teams still in action as our C team headed off to play Newcastle B at the Bridge Club, in a top of the table division 2 clash. After an early win for Neville Layhe on board 4 it was all downhill for the Cees. In an evenly contested match Newcastle recovered from a 1-0 deficit to take the lead 2-1, with all eyes on the final board 1 game between the C team skipper Dave Lambton and Newcastle’s leading player Alan Paling. Dave knowing we needed a win to save the match was trying desperately to crack open the solid defence, but could not find a path to victory. With both players down to below one minute on the clock and fearing the worst, peace was agreed with a draw to leave Newcastle victorious as the move to the summit of div 2.
With a quiet night at the club there was just one internal match played, where James Marshall won the internal division 2 game to take himself into the lead of this section with 3.5 pts from 4 games. He leads by just half a point from George Bulbeck, with these two yet to play each other in the 13-player all-play-all competition.
Next week sees our E & F teams in division 3 league action.