Division 2 Champions 2007/7
| 15th April | JR rolls back the years with a spare and 35 to seize the Diddler as we ovecome the Legion | |
| We came, we saw and we conquered - or rather JR did as he opened up with a glorious spare of 13 and never looked back as he romped his way to 35, and £30 worth of Diddler. With that form, the rest of us could afford to be crap, as we saw of the Legion C by 15 pins. One match to go, and really the only thing up for grabs is the wooden spoon. Harv appears to be Champion elect barring a miracle from Sparky or Gilo, but there's a ding dong battle at the bottom between Nightmare and DJ. Nightmare's the current bottom of the pile, but if he beats DJ's score next week by 3 or 4 pins, it'll be DJ holding the spoon. |  |
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| 2nd April | All even at the Railway | |
| This match could have gone either way. It nearly did, but in the end we both had to settle for a share of the points as we ran up 269 pins each. Chsaing 58 to win on the final roll we needed 10 from the fianl 2 men. When Statto floored 7 (by far his best of the evening), you'd have put your mortgage on Harv flrooing the requisite 3 to win - the lowest he'd hit all night was a 5. But it wasn't to be, as he nudged over only 2 to leave the match tied. Skipper Sparky led the way with a bolterless 30 |  |
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| 25th March | Ex's Shoot Us Down | |
| Back to earth again as we lose to the Ex's C at home by a wide margin. Despite the best efforts of Harv (right) & Stocks who hit 31 apiece and a 29 from Statto and a 27 from JR, no one else got past 24 as we were routed on our home alley. There's no excuses, we're just not hitting enough pins, with another 40+ bolters on the night. One things for sure, the bolter payout is going to be worthwhile this year! |  |
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| 11th March | Bragging rights are ours as we depatch the DPA "A" | |
| In the derby match against the "A" we won to claim the bragging rights and even the wins (we lost in the earlier match). The alley wasn't at it's best, and no-one got to 30, but Gilo was nearest with a fine 29. Good performances all round in the main saw us home to claim the points and end our losing streak. |  |
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| 5th March | Poor showing at the Cef | |
We lost this game and should have won easily. Never less than 2 pins ahead, and as many as 13 after roll 1, we blew this match big time, courtesy of a great last roll by the home team (65) and 56 bolter by us - that's almost the equivalent of playing with 8 men!!! Blakey showed how it could be done with a solid 28, and Gilo & Richie hit 26's, but eslewhere this was a very disappointing match. That's three losses on the bounce now.
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| 25th February | Bulldogs too bullish for us as Statto rolls back the years | |
| Statto (right) rolled back the years with a peerless performance as he dropped 35 pins and scooped 66 big ones from the Diddler pot, but sadly it wasn't enough as the Bulldogs ran out winners by 6 pins in a tight encounter at the Athletic Club. Stats was 7 pins clear of the next man Harv, as he rolled a 7, 6, 6, 8, 8 set, nipping in to snatch the Diddler with his last ball of the night. Elsewhere, Harve apart, scores were steady rather than spectacular and we just couldn't quite do enough to take the points. |  |
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| 18th February | Winning run ends at the notorious Clive Alley | |
| Our little run that's hopefully seen us move to safety, came to an end at the Clive where we lost a ding-dong battle on the final roll. The Clive alley is the shortest in the league, but that didn't stop some big (and some low) scores being ratlled up. In the end, despite Gilo's 32 we were undone by a final roll of 71 by our hosts after going into the final roll just 1 down. We needed 73 to win, and that sonne became too much for us as we faltered to 62. Great game though, nice curry too. | |
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| 11th February | Marauders sent packing as Exocet drops the lot | |
In a fine display against a top of the table side, we showed some grit and determination to record one of our higher scores on our home alley this year and claim all the points. Excoet (pictured) led the way with his new look tea cosy hat, and it certainly proved effective as he floored all 9 on his first roll, second up to give us a great start. Steady, if unspectacular supprot all round did the business in a game that see-sawed during the first half of the match, but which we eventually saw out comfortably. |
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| 28th January | Sprouts sprung as we capture more points | |
| Three wins on e the bounce in the New Year have eased our relegation worries. This week we saw off the Sprouts with fine 29's from Stabber (pictured) and Statto. Elsewhere, "Captain Zero" (Andy Cooper) rocketed to his best ever score of 21. Acting captain Stabber put the win down to his man management and motivational style. We reckon we won because we ignored him. |  |
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| 14 January | ||
No Christmas hangover for us as we beat the Penarth Athletic by 11
pins to gain our first points of 2009 and ward off relegation fears.
There's still a long way to go, but gritty performances like this help.
Special mention to Ken "Slowhand" Stewart, our evergreen sub
who stepped in as we were short, and his pins helped roll us to victory. |
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| 18th December | Into the Christmas break with a win as we roll over the Pilot | |
It was a case "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see Dinas win away..." as we went to the Pilot and came away with maximum points. After the disappointment of the last couple of weeks, it must cheer the skipper's heart to see his lads can still do the business. Particualrly impressive were the big guns of Nightmare (right) DJ and Stocks with 27 apiece, Nightmare eventually taking the well deserved Top Dog shirt after a roll off. No matches now until mid January, which will allow the knocks to be rested. May we take this opportunity to wish all our players and follwers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Up the Dinas!
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| 10th December | Sleepers alert to the last as we lose again | |
For the seond time in a week we lost on the last roll. LAst week an 80+ by the Ex's left us too mush to do. This week, we left the Sleepers needing 62, what would have been the best score of the night by a couple to win, and they hit 67. To be honest, we were poor. Whatever the state of the pins (and we're not happy about that), it's the same for both sides. Bottom line, they hit more than us. We amassed 47 bolters on the night, which tells it's own story. Our top socre was 27, theirs over 30. They hit 2 nines. We didn't. In fact only three got over 25. Pete "Exocet" Colley, with 27, and the Harv's, DJ (right) and Harv with 26 apiece. We could do with a win before the Christmas break.
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| 3rd December | Ex's C nail us with a final 82 | |
| In a ding dong match that went to the wire, a monstrous 82 on their final roll gave the Ex's the advantage, and it was too much for us. Stockings (right) Top Dogged with 33, but it should have been Tankerman on his season debut, on 29 after 4 and on for the Diddler, but he managed only 2 to end on 31. A tough match to lose, but a very decent game nevertheless. |  |
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| 26th November | Bolters abound as Exocet fires us to victory | |
| Despite recording 53 bolters on the night (that's 30% of balls rolled) we still managed to skittle our way to the points over the Unsportsmans. Exocet (right - note: I must get a new photo) Top Dogged with a fine 30, with Statto, Gilo and Richie in close attendance on 28. Despite missing as many as we did, we still romped home by 24 pins. |  |
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| 20th November | Another two points go begging as we fail to shine | |
It was a poor night at the office as we failed miserably to mount
a serious challenge against club rivals the DP Athletic A. In fact we
blew a 9 pin opening roll lead to lose by 4 pins. Only Gilo (r) with
29 and Statto with 27 looked in any sort of form, and the lowest score
on the night was 15. Plenty of work to do or it's relegation for us,
and we'll have to throw those shirts away.
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| 12th November | You are my Sunshine. Turned over by the Cef | |
| What a shambles. Another poor performance, this week going down to the
Cef. In fairness, the alley was dry as a chip - our top score was 27 and
we only managed 275 on an alley you should hit 300+ on. The pins have
changed though, so we think that's telling. What really told though, was
that the Cef hit more pins than us. 20 bolters in the first 2 rolls set
the scene, and whilst we could have, maybe should have won, we didn't.
JR (right) and Exocet topped the tables with a pair of 27's, whilst at
the other end, "Coops" recorded a sunshone on his way to 16. At this rate we'll have to let Stabber back into the side. |
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| 4th November | Mauled by the Bulldogs | |
| Either we didn't have the bottle, or this league is harder than we think after we threw away a 21 pin lead to lose by 13 at the Penarth Legion. Rossi's Diddler busting 34 earned him £48, plus the £2's, and the yellow shirt, with Sparky on 31 close behind, and 31 was a respectable score, but three 70+ rolls from the 'Dogs after their initial 48 just blew us away, and we couldn't stick with them. This week we're breaking with tradition and instead of a photo of "Top Dog", it's Stabber. He doesn't get to feature as Top Dog very often, and it was his birthday. Many Happy Returns mate. Only 7 years until you're 50! |  |
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| 29th October | Clive beat us in a tospy turvy match | |
| We lost this one by 3 pins. People will look at the anchorman who hit 5 on the final roll needing 8 to tie, but there's more to it than that. At one end of the scale Sparky (right) hit a faultess 29 and Blakey hit a spare of 13 (otheriwse he'd have been dropped), whilst at the other end, new boy Andy Cooper managed just 13. We're back to our old inconsistent ways and need to sort this out pretty soon. | |
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| 23rd October | A marauding win at the Legion as Gilo drops nine, as well as some other stuff | |
| Back to back wins as we saw off the Marauders at the Llandough Legion
in a see-saw match. Gilo (right) was Top Dog showing there's life after
90 as he floored 30 including a fat 9 on the opening roll. Ably supported,
we hauled back an opening 7 pin deficit to win by 3 on what's a traditionally
tough alley. Signs of a revival coming? A special mention too, to debutant Richie "Yet to be nicknamed - suggestions on a postcard or email please" Copley who hit a marvellous 25 on debut - something some of the older hands would have given their right arms for last night! |
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| 15th October | Back in the groove as we bag the points against Llandough C | |
| This was more like it. Never spectacular, but at least consistent, as we beat a Llandough C side who didn't appear to be on form. A win then, but 291 on our home alley won't be generating fear amongst our league opponents, and there will need to be more in the tank if we're to hold our own in this division. Skipper Sparky (right) top scored with 29, ably supported by Exocet (27) | |
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| 8th October | Sprouts not to our taste as we lose heavily at the Legion | |
| We were taught another 1st division lesson this week as we were comprehensively rolled over by the seasoned Sprouts team at the Penarth Legion. In in unusual step there were three sets of balls on the rack to choose from - not that it helped us - in the end we lost by a massive 33 after being 2 up after the first roll. Rossie (r) hit a superb 32, and Sparky, Harv and Stabber all floored 28. One other bright spot was the skipper's 9 on the final roll. |  |
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| 1st Oct | Back to winning ways | |
It was back to winning ways as we saw of the challenge of the Llandough B side on our own alley. Gomemeister on the night was JR (right) with 31, and skipper Sparky also floored 31. JR's clearly setting the early season pace - can he keep it up? EWlsewhere, Stabber and Rossi turned out for the first time this season and Nightmare's got a new song - but you'll have to turn up to hear it! |
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| 25th Sep | We throw away points in season opener | |
After being in a commanding position in the season's opener against Penarth Athletic, we managed to throw away the points in a collapse of titanic proportions. Looking fine in our new tops, there was no corresponding oomph in our performance, as we melted into submission. Still, we did take a photo of us with the 2nd Division trophy and Sue from the Three Horseshoes, who's sponsored our shirts this season.
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| New Season Beckons | ||
We're now just a couple of weeks away from our opening fixture of the 2008/9 season, where we face the Penarth Athletic in our first game back in the 1st Division after our Championship winning exploits of last term. The full list of fixtures is available here Skipper Mark "Sparky" Hughes is once again at the helm. Over the next few days the various 2008/9 pages, including the all important fixture pages will hpefully be up and running
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| All time averages updated to include 2007/8 season |
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