Report by Rookie; pics by Dennis the Menace
BD MALONE VS WANNABEES 1 S.FERRIS 0.5-0.5 P.MCGUIGAN 2 N.GREEN 0-1 A.MCCONNELL 3 S.FLANAGAN 0.5-0.5 P.MCLAUGHLIN 4 D.RUBEN 1-0 W.MCGRATTAN 5 N.MCFARLAND 0-1 R.PROCTOR 6 A.BECKETT 1-0 B.BELSHAW TOTAL 2.0-3.0 +BONUS 2.0-5.0
AT GROOMSPORT, 29/4/2010
BOARD 6 NOT PART OF THE OFFICIAL LEAGUE MATCH
Having promised to eat his hat if Wannabees won league division two, Malone “cap”tain, Martin Kelly, cap in hand, turned up with his team at the idyllically-situated Groomsport Church Hall to play Bangor Wannabees in the top of the table clash. Kelly cleverly switched his two S.F.s - Sam Ferris and Sam Flanagan - around from their usual board order to flummox the opposition. On board one, Sam’s draw against a stronger opponent was as “ferris” as his anxious captain could have expected. The next game to finish saw Proctor “gamble” and succeeding in a risky opening on board five and Neil turn “green” after losing on board two. Suddenly, Wannabees only needed a point from the last two games to win the league. By this stage, Kelly had returned from watching Liverpool lose and his quiz team win in the nearby pub. On board three, Paul McLaughlin, behind on material, offered his short-of-time opponent a draw, which was eagerly accepted. With an explosive finish on board three, David’ was “ruben” salt into Wannabees’ wounds as he grabbed a win to guarantee Malone are division two champions, despite losing twice to Wannabees this season.
| TEAM | PL | W | D | L | PTS | % |
| MALONE | 14 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 67.0 | 75 |
| WANNABEES | 14 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 66.5 | 82 |
| WINSTON | 14 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 60.5 | 64 |
| BOMBARDIER | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 55.0 | 61 |
| FORTWILLIAM | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 54.0 | 57 |
| HENDERSONS | 14 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 34.5 | 29 |
| RANDALSTOWN | 14 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 28.0 | 14 |
| RAVENS | 14 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 26.5 | 18 |
The packed hall, Bangor supporters to a man (apart, that is, from guest star Dennis the Menace), were very sporting in defeat as they joined in the group photo taken by our Dennis.
Finally, the Catalan opening is bound to get a revival in popularity after Anand’s second win with it over Topalov in round four.
4 comments:
This 'Clash of the Titans' of Div2 lived up to all the pre-match hype.Both Molly Malones and Wannabees had put out probably their strongest teams and tore into each other like 2 dogs fighting over a bone!.It should be reminded that although Malone scraped home to the div2 title,Wannabees won this match and completed a league double over their opponents.Congrats are in order to the Molly Malones as Div2 champions,but equally i would like to offer my congrats to Wannabees for making Malone sweat to the very end.Many thanks to Wannabees for their warm welcome and hospitality to me on arrival,it was a pleasure to meet some of my old friends from my playing days.
So ends a remarkable season for the Bangor Wannabees. Remarkable considering they only lost one game all season! Remarkable considering they beat this years champs Malone twice! Remarkable considering they finished bottom last campaign without winning a single game! But most remrkable of all is that they only lost this years league by a miserly half point. Still thats all it takes and as they say thats how the 'rookie' crumbles. Congratulations to Malone who have come close on a few occasions in recent years. I guess the bridesmaid finally caught the bouquet. For the Wannabees, Bangor's top team,it's been a great season all round. Many thanks to all the players near and far for such a wonderful effort. Roll on the summer tourney!!!
Congrats to Malone and their captain Rookie....he had found himself Queen a rook and a hard place but said 'come follow me and i will make you a Fischer of men'Commiss to Bangor who could show others how to runa successful chess club.
I once entered a pun writing contest. I wrote ten puns to improve my chances of winning, but unfortunately, no pun in ten did.
Congrats to Malone - and good luck for next year in Div. 1.
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