Allsports proved as slippery as their car park as Hustlers slithered to a narrow defeat in Charlton Kings on Tuesday night. First leg was negotiated successfully with Neilson once again playing a captain’s innings up front and managing to keep the team’s head just above water.
Although second leg performed well, with both Lewis and Brian (just) managing scores in the 40s, Allsports were equal to it and snatched away the single pin advantage Hustlers had gained from the first leg.
Going into third leg on level terms, Hustlers squandered their opportunities and, partly because they were up against Allsports’ highest leg, all three players fell to their opponents, leaving last leg with a deficit of 19 pins.
Having done it last week, fourth leg began to eat away at Allsports’ lead and, helped by an excellent 15 spare from Rob who ended with 46, they had almost caught up by the end of the fourth hand. Unfortunately they could not sustain this performance; the last hand of 24 which was needed for the win proved just out of reach and Hustlers went down by just 4 pins.
| Away vs Allsports 12 December 17 – Lost by 4 | |||||||||
| Place | Player | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Total | V man! |
| 1 | Neil | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 47 | 7 |
| 2 | Lloyd | 6 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 31 | -5 |
| 3 | John | 5 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 29 | -1 |
| Leg | 19 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 20 | 107 | 1 | |
| 4 | Lewis | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 40 | 2 |
| 5 | Pete | 6 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 35 | -4 |
| 6 | Brian | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 41 | 1 |
| Leg | 18 | 15 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 18 | 116 | -1 | |
| 7 | Steve | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 34 | -6 |
| 8 | Rich | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 34 | -4 |
| 9 | Dave | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 31 | -9 |
| Leg | 14 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 16 | 18 | 99 | -19 | |
| 10 | Clive | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 39 | 2 |
| 11 | Gary | 7 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 38 | -4 |
| 12 | Rob | 6 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 46 | 17 |
| Leg | 17 | 26 | 20 | 22 | 19 | 19 | 123 | 15 | |