Captain's Log

Eccy win but miss out on promotion by 2 points as Layton whitewash St Georges...

Captains Log

3 FIGHT FOR RUNNERS UP SPOT

As we move into the last week of the season, only one point separates three teams fighting for the runners up spot. Layton lost to Gardners tonight 7-3, while ICI won away at champions East End 8-3.

Whilst this was happening we lost once again, by the smallest possible margin, one point. Steady John Quinney unusually threw away a 17-6 lead to lose 21-17, whilst Alan Steele stood at 20-17 in the final game but was unable to capture the single chalk needed for victory. Next week I have named an unchanged side to face Belmont.

Our rivals are also both at home ICI to Norcross and Layton at home to St Georges who need a win to stay up.

Great Eccleston v Norcross (Away)

    David Bilsborrow   21   Alan Smith      16
    Alan Steele        20   Steve Jackson   21
    John Quinney       17   Jim Parsons     21
    Johnny Miller      21   Dave Briggs     14
    Gary Brash         18   J MccOY         21
    Dave Thornton      21   Tony Andrews    17
    Ron Senior         11   Paul Taylor     21
    Jimmy McNight      21   Steve Hartley   20
 
    Result 4 - 6 
 

Great Eccleston v Norbreck (Home)

      Johnny Miller   13   Ted Ashford       21
      Ron Senior      21   Ian Court         16
      Graham Trott    16   Alan Butler       21
      John Quinney    21   Bernhard Altham   14 
      Alan Steele     21   Oliver Fielding   10
      David Thornton  21   Dave Porter       13
      Gary Brash      21   Les Ormorad        7
      Jimmy McNight   21   Ken Dugdale       17
 
      Result   8 - 2
 

Great Eccleston v Gardners (Away)

      Johnny Miller      21   Dave Yule         17
      Peter Holden        9   Clive Wilkinson   21
      Gary Brash         15   Mathew Betty      21
      Jimmy McNight      10   Peter Millington  21
      David Bilsborrow   16   Bob Booth         21
      Ron Senior          9   Ian White         21
      John Quinney       21   Steve White       13
      Dave Thornton      15   Peter Millington  21
 
      Lost 2 - 8 

 

Captain's Log

"BURIED AT GARDNERS"

Disaster stuck us with a convincing defeat away to second bottom Gardners. Johnny Miller and John Quinney were the only rays of sunshine in what was a disapointing performance. With three games to go it requires us to finish with a flourish to challenge the other contenders.

Division League Leaders

                 Played         Points
East End           18             125
Gt Ecc             18             117
Layton             18             116
ICI                18             115
Norbreck           17             102
 

Team Selection - Wednesday 8th August 2007

Gt Ecc V Gardners (Away) 
Ron Senior
John Quinney
Gary Brash
David Bilsborrow 
David Thornton
Jimmy McNight
Peter Holden

RES: Alan Steele
     Graham Trott 

Great Eccleston v Belmont ABP (Home)

Alan Steele       19   Tom Fullalove     21
Peter Holden      21   Jim Corrigan      13
David Bilsborrow  21   Jim Latham        12
JohnQuinney       21   John Stuchfield   10
Johnny Miller     21   John Ward         13
Jimmy McNight     21   Brian Collinge     4
Ron Senior        21   Peter Royle       18
Gary Brash        21   Frank Anders       6

Result 9 - 1 
 

President Day Results

Colin Isherwood won the presidents 21-17 against David Bilsborrow Colin also knocked out Peter Holden, Johnny Miller and Harry Hayton. Last years winner John Quinney was beaten by Peter Holden.

Team Selection - 1st August 2007

Gt Ecc V Belmont (Home) 

Ron Senior
John Quinney
Gary Brash
David Bilsborrow 
Alan Steele
Jimmy McNight
Johnny Miller
Peter Holden

RES: Bert Fletcher 
 

Fixtures Fylde Division 2

Great Eccleston V Belmont (Home) 1st August, 2007

Great Eccleston v Saint George (Away)

David Bilsborrow   11  Denis Taylor    21
Alan Steele         9  Bill Blower     21
John Quinney       21  Jim Potts        9
Johnny Miller      21  Martin Robert   16
Ron Senior         13  John Austin     21
Peter Holden       21  Bill Hibberson  10
David Thornton     17  Dave Billington 21 
Gary Brash         21  Mel Cainer      16
  
Result: 4 - 7 

Captain's Log

"Great Ecc fire extinguished by St George"

Just as we hit the top two for the first time this season our fire was put out by a fighting St George's team. Two chalks cost us 3 valuable points. Disapointing performances from Alan and myself didn't help our cause, but a spirited performance from Peter and John ensured it all hinged on the the last game. Unfortunately Dave was beaten 21-7 which resulted in an home win. As a result of this win we await the result of our rivals ICI to see if they took advantage in their away game. Meanwhile Layton also had the opportunity to close the 6 point gap.

Great Eccleston v Land Registry (Home)

 Alan Steele        21  Peter Findlow          13  
 John Quinney       21  Allen Jones            10
 Graham Trott       21  Simon Phumphrey        20
 Ron Senior         21  Tony Lyons             15 
 Johnny Miller      21  Phil Elliot            13
 David Thornton     16  Martin Illingworth     21
 David Bilsborrow   21  Graham Warrington      16
 Jimmy McNight      21  Carl Martin            14
    
 Res 9 - 1
 

Great Eccleston v Layton Institute (Away)

 David Thornton     15   Karl Beddington   21
 Gary Brash         19   Stuart Walker     21
 Bert Fletcher       9   Dennis Foxton     21
 Johnny Miller      15   Geoff Brayshaw    21
 Ron Senior         21   Brian Fleet       20
 Peter Holden        7   Gordon Meakin     21
 Jimmy McNight      21   Fred Gill         15
 David Bilsborrow   21   Geoff Barnes      16

 Result: 3 - 7
 

Captain's Log

LAYTON LAY IT ON THICK

Well it had to happen the winning run was ended at Layton but under the circumstances 3 points was not a bad return considering the team was blitzed by late withdrawals from the squad. Alan, John and Graham were missing which resulted in a season debut for Bert Fletcher who got a late call up this morning. At the half way point things looked good as Jimmy McNight continued his excellent form with a good 21-15 win. Wins were also recorded by Ron Senior and myself. Unfortunately that is where the points stopped as both Peter and Bert were well beaten to single figures and two battling performances from both Gary and Dave resulted in no points being added.
This is a major set back on our promotion push but there is still time for us to charge up the table and make our assault on the leaders.

Fylde Division 2 League Table - Leaders

                       P    W    D   L   POINTS

    East End          14   11        3     99
    ICI               14   12    1   1     97
    GREAT ECCLESTON   14   11        3     93
    Layton Institute  14    8        6     82
    Norbreck          13    7    1   5     80
  
 

Captain's Log

ECCY BOYS FEND OFF CHEMICAL ATTACK

A must win victory over league leaders ICI reduced their lead on ourselves to 4 points. Things started slowly with both sides having to make changes to the order due to late arrivals. As a result Ron made a rare first half appearance against unbeaten Tony Emery who continued his unbeaten run by beating Ron to 12. Jimmy Mcnight held the first half together with a splendid 21-9 win. A narrow win for myself and a 1 point defeat for Peter ensured we had a 5 point half time lead. John Quinney increased this margin by winning 21-9 early in the second half. Defeats for Graham and Gary followed. As a result it was left to Dave to bring home the bacon and he obliged by winning the final game to 17 leaving us with a 6 chalk win. This win keeps us on track for a top two position but next weeks trip to Layton will be a real test of our credentials. Alan and Johnny return and Gary is rested.

Players blame work for late arrival !

Billy was not sure whether some of his players were late for the match because they had other things on their minds...

Poster 'His Favourite Girl' Copyright Jack Vettriano

Great Eccleston v ICI (Home)

                      
David Thornton      21  Ken Drury         17
David Bilsborrow    21  Geoff Sigworth    18
John Quinney        21  B.Farmer           9
Jimmy McNight       21  Alan Hardie        9
Ron Senior          12  Tony Emery         21
Gary Brash          13  Geoff Lloyd        21
Peter Holden        20  Eric Johnston      21
Graham Trott        14  Frank Williamson   21 

Result 6-4 
 

Team Selection

Gt Eccleston V Layton (Away)
Wednesday 11th July, 2007

Ron Senior
John Quinney
Jimmy McNight
David Bilsborrow
Alan Steele
David Thornton
Johnny Miller
Peter Holden

RES:
Gary Brash 

Team Selection

 Great Eccleston V ICI (HOME)
 Away 
      Ron Senior
      John Quinney
      Jimmy McNight
      David Bilsborrow 
      Gary Brash
      David Thornton
      Graham Trott
      Peter Holden

 RES: Alan Steele
      Johnny Miller 

 

Who shall I pick?

Billy was not taking this lightly...he needed to pick the team...but who could he leave out? They were all chomping at the bit. But the question still needed to be answered...and quick!

Poster 'Amateur Philosophers' Copyright Jack Vettriano

A STROLL BY THE SEA FOR THE ECCY BOYS!

Poster 'The Billy Boys' Copyright Jack Vettriano

Great Eccleston v Cleveleys Park (Away)

David Thornton      21     Alan Gooch            16
Alan Steele         10     Steve Laird           21
Gary Brash          15     Jan Rodgers           21
Peter Holden        21     Ray Heap              13
David Bilsborrow    21     Alan Hollingworth     19
John Quinney        21     Mike Kane             15
Graham Trott        21     Frank Benyon          13
Jimmy McNight       21     Jim Franklin          11

Result  9 - 2

CAPTAINS LOG

"A STROLL IN THE PARK FOR THE ECCY BOYS"

What could have been a potential banana skin turned out to be plain sailing against relegation threatened Cleveleys Park. Cleveleys had just recorded two unlikely wins against promotion challengers Norbreck and were expecting much more than they got. The green was very bumpy and this proved as difficult for the home team as well as the away team. Graham Trott led the way on the night with a good win against Frank Benyon before Jimmy, John and myself ensured a 100% first half. The second half was not as convincing as Gary and Alan looked to be heading for big defeats before making reasonable comebacks. However it was Peter Holden who sealed the victory winning in a convincing manner. Dave Thornton then put the icing on the cake to give us a 9-2 away win. Next week it all hots up as we take on title favourites and league leaders ICI at home. The biggest problem I have is who to leave on the bench as all 10 of the squad are chomping at the bit to take on ICI.

TEAM AVEARAGES 27/06/07

                     Averages     Wins       Rate  
 
John Quinney          + 50      9 from 12     75%
David Bilsborrow      + 39      8 from 12     67%
Gary Brash            + 33      8 from 13     67%
Jimmy McNight         + 36      7 from  9     78%
Alan Steele           + 23      6 from 12     50%
David Thornton        + 21      6 from  9     67%
Ron Senior            + 15      6 from 11     55%
Johnny Miller         - 10      5 from 12     42%
Graham Trott          +  7      4 from  7     57%
Peter Holden          +  4      3 from  6     50%

Great Eccleston v East End (Away)

David Thornton     19    Simon Thistlethwaite  21
Alan Steele        21    Ian Hilton            16
David Bilsborrow   14    Alan Pyle             21
Jimmy McNight      21    Joe Nicholas          18
Johnny Miller      15    Dave Huxley           21
Ron Senior         17    Peter Blakeley        21
Gary Brash         21    Bernard Butler        14
John Qunney        21    Dave Lloyd             4

Result 7 - 4 

Captain's Log

"EAST END GO WEST"

Following on from last week's narrow win at home to East End 6-4 we inflicted further distress to the East End promotion push by becoming the first team to beat them on their home patch this year. East End have switched greens and this has proved a good move as the green is a tricky up and down experience for anyone playing it for the first time. However, this wasn't the case for John Quinney who gained revenge on his opponent for the previous weeks defeat by thrashing him 21-4. Further impressive wins for Gary Brash, Jimmy McNight and Alan Steele ensured an aggregate win. The win is vital in our promotion push as it narrows down our deficit on East End to 5 points. Next week we travel to Cleveleys Park looking to record our 4th away win of the season. Graham returns whilst Johnny is rested.

© David Bilsborrow - 2007

Captain's Log

"ECCY EDGE TURN ROUND OPENER"

Following on from last week's defeat at Norbreck we bounced back narrowly defeating East End 6-4. All our home advantage was washed away with the constant rain which totally changed conditions throughout the night.

Wins for Jimmy McNight and myself ensured we led by two chalks at half time. We sealed the match with two good wins from Ron Senior and Dave Thornton who returned from his trek around the Alps in good form. Next week we visit East End hoping the rains continue to fall.

© David Bilsborrow - 2007

Great Eccleston v East End (Home)

David Thornton    21   Simon Thistlethwaite   12
Johnny Miller      9   Alan Pyle              21
Alan Steele       20   Bernard Butler         21
Jimmy McNight     21   Dave Huxley            14
David Bilsborrow  21   Joe Nicholas            9
Gary Brash        17   Peter Blakeley         21
Ron Senior        21   Ian Hilton             15
John quinney      16   Dave Lloyd             21

Result   6 - 4

Individual Averages 2007

                                WINS     RATE
David Bilsborrow   + 44       7 from 10   70%
John Quinney       + 27       7 from 10   70%
Gary Brash         + 32       7 from 11   64%   

Ron Senior         + 19       6 from 10   60%

David Thornton     + 18       5 from 7    71%
Jimmy McNight      + 23       5 from 8    63%
Alan Steele        + 29       5 from 10   50%
Johnny Miller      -  4       5 from 11   45%

Graham Trott       -  1       3 from 6    50%

Peter Holden       -  4       2 from 5    40% 

  
  

LEAGUE TABLE

            
                    P   W   D   L   POINTS

GREAT ECCLESTON    11   8       3     70 
EAST END            7   6       1     53
GREAT ECCLESTON    10   7       3     64 
BELMONT ABP A       9   6       3     52
LYTHAM LR           8   5   1   2     48
NORBRECK            6   3       3     37
ICI                 5   4       1     35 
LAYTON INSTITUTE    5   3       2     29
NORCROSS            6   2   1   3     28   
BELMONT ABP         5   1       4     20
CLEVELEYS PARK      7   1       6     21 
ST GEORGES          6   1       5     16
GARDNERS ARMS       6           6     11

Google

Just to let you know I managed to get the site listed in Google. Here's a screen-shot showing it at the top of the list. The key words entered into the search engine were...'Great Eccleston Crown Green'...Yeah!!!

Welcome to our new website...

Thanks to a little help from friends, we managed to get this new site up and running in a very short time. The old site was less than perfect, but it served us well. I hope this site proves to be as good as it looks...only time will tell?

There are some great features that come with this 'Blog' site. One is that it allows Guest Authors, this means that Club Members can register so that they too can post the odd bit of news as an when they have something interesting to input to the site.

Navigating the site is fairly easy. The main menu on the right hand sidebar of the page, gives you the titles of each item posted on the blog. Clicking on any one of these titles will take you to that page. Lower down the right hand sidebar is another set of links which are listed in alphabetical order. These links are grouped by common themes, for example: 'Captain's Log'; 'Fixtures'; 'Results' etc., Again, by clicking on any one of these links will take you to the relevent page.

Thanks for stopping by...if you want to leave a comment please feel free to do so, but remember all comments will be vetted for content and language.

Notes on Posting Results

When you want to post a list of results, first you need to add an HTML 'tag' to make the results line up as you want them to appear on the page. An HTML 'tag' is just a tiny bit of code which tells the browser how to display an element, be it text or an image. The 'tag' you need to type in looks like the text written below in RED...








This is what you would get if you didn't add the 'pre tag'

Example:

Joe Blogs 10
Fred Smith 18
Johnny Walker 21
...

And this is what it looks like when you add the 'pre tag'

Example:

Joe Blogs       10
Fred Smith      18
Johnny Walker   21
...

Notes on Posting to this BLOG as a Guest Author

As a 'Guest Author' you are allowed to post but not to change the look of the site. When you first LOGIN via Google you are presented with what's known as the Dashboard. [Fig.1]

[Fig.1]


CLICKING 'View Blog' will bring you back to this page that you are viewing at this moment in time. To begin 'posting' (writing something to the blog) you need to CLICK the 'New Post' link at the top right hand side of the page. [Fig.2]





[Fig.2]


When you have finished writing, CLICK on the button at the bottom left of the box you have been typing in which says 'Publish Post'. [Fig.3]

Alternatively you can just click 'Save as Draft' if you don't what to publish straight away. (Publish in this sense means making it visible on this website, whereas just saving as a draft will make it into a 'Draft Copy' which you can Publish at a later date.)



[Fig 3]

[Note: Before you Publish your post you might want to link it to another post. You can do this using the Label feature (see Fig.3 above) ]


I hope this is helpful?

If there is anything you are not sure about just add a comment to this post or email me.

Top Performances

David Bilsborrow   21-3  v  Gardners Arms
John Quinney       21-4  v  Gardners Arms
Alan Steele        21-6  v  Gardners Arms
Peter Holden       21-6  v  Layton Institute
Gary Brash         21-6  v  St Georges 
Ron Senior         21-7  v  Gardners Arms
Ron Senior         21-8  v  Norcross
Alan Steele        21-9  v  Land Registry
Johnny Miller      21-9  v  Belmont A View High
David Bilsborrow   21-9  v  East End

Captain's Log (Norbreck)

No Breaks at Norbreck

A two point reward was the only prize for us at a difficult away trip to Norbreck. Highflying Norbreck, who hope to bounce back to the first division, were in fine form as they went into a 5-0 lead.

It was, however, a case of what could have been as both Gary Brash and Graham Trott were within 1 and 2 points of victory before being edged out by good comebacks. The only reward for an evening at Norbreck was achieved through narrow wins for both Alan Steele and John Quinney.

Next week we continue our quest to remain with the top teams as we take on East End who are also flying high.

© David Bilsborrow - 2007

Great Eccleston v Norbreck (Away)

David Bilsborrow   10    Oliver Fielding   21
Johnny Miller      12    Ian Court         21
Gary Brash         19    Adrian Davies     21
Jimmy McNight      16    Alan Butler       21
Graham Trott       20    Les Ormerod       21
John Quinney       21    Dave Porter       16
Ron Senior          8    Bernard Altham    21
Alan Steele        21    Ted Ashford       17

Result 2 - 8

Club Average Winners - Fylde League

2003   ALAN STEELE
2004   ALAN STEELE
2005   DAVID BILSBORROW   +70   wins 14/19
2006   JOHN QUINNEY       +93   wins 12/17
2007   ????????????

Captain's Log (Gardners Arms)

Gardners Planted

Another solid performance against bottom club Gardner's Arms ensured a fifth consecutive victory. Highflying Alan Steele flew back from New York but it was his opponent who had his head in the clouds as he polished off his opponent to single figures. Single figure victories were also recorded by John Quinney, Ron Senior and David Bilsborrow.

'Comeback King of the Day' was Jimmy McNight who recovered from 9-1 down to record a 21-17 victory. Gary Brash also recorded a good win against one of Gardner's stronger players. The only blots on the landscape were Peter Holden and Johnny Miller.

A great start to the season hots up over the next three weeks as we visit Norbreck for our first real test away before going to meet Leaders East End two weeks running.

© David Bilsborrow - 2007

Great Eccleston v Gardner's Arms (Home)

Johnny Miller        9   Peter Millington       21
David Bilsborrrow   21   Ian White               3
Peter Holden        15   Peter Millington Jnr   21
Jimmy McNight       21   David Yule             17
Gary Brash          21   Steve White            15
John Quinney        21   Bob Booth               4
Alan Steele         21   Pat shackleton          6
Ron Senior          21   Cyril Redman            7

Result 8 - 2