ML2: Ealing II 3 Muswell Hill I 5
: Created:23 Jan 2008 , by Alastair Johnstone8th January: Ealing II narrowly miss toppling lead leaders Muswell Hill.
Bd | Ealing I | Gd. | Â | Muswell Hill II | Gd. |
1 | Lamb, H Michael | 146 | - | Kumar, Vedantha | 170 |
2 | Greenshields, C | 141 | - | Butt, ODR | 142 |
3 | Sanchez, Miguel EC | 130 | - | House, Richard | 142 |
4 | Healeas, Simon | 135 | W | Farnan, Stuart A | 155 |
5 | Gibbons, C Dale | 129 | W | Carter, Kerrington | 136 |
6 | Harvey, John T | 107 | - | Mackintosh, AR | 135 |
7 | Johnstone, Alastair G | 108 | - | Peet, Tom G | 130 |
8 | Grewal, Harvey | 100 | + | Ransome, Wilson | 124 |
On the face of it, it looks like a comfortable win for the away side, but the score card doesn't come close to telling the full story. With a 100% record for the season, and a comprehensive drubbing in the away leg, Muswell Hill were firm favourites. But, with travel across London in the 21st century beginning to resemble attempts to reach the pole in the last century, Ealing were gifted a two point start through defaults. It was almost four, as boards two and three came perilously close to overstepping the 30 minutes grace period allowed.
But, while grateful for the point, we wouldn't have gained much comfort from winning in such a manner. What grates is that, coming up to the last half hour of the contest, Ealing were seemingly winning over the board: clearly ahead in two of the games and no worse in at least three of the remaining four. In the end, however, Harvey was the only one to gain anything from the evening (a testament to his returning form after many years away from the board - well done Harvs!).
On the other boards Ealing dreams of glory evaporated all too readily:Chris, Miguel and Alastair all losing from promising positions, while Mike's stubborn defence broke down at the last. In the end, it was just another tale of what might have been.