West Victorious in Annual Battle

The A Teams from East and West came together on Saturday in the Royal Hotel, Stromness with the boys from the East looking to retain the trophy that they won so well last year.

The West Mainlanders were determined to prevent this from happening and this determination lead to a strong start for them, with Keith Keldie taking a convincing 2-0 victory in the first game. This set the tone for the opening session, which ended with the West leading by 6 games to 3.

The second session started with the experienced Colin Ried taking a win for the East, but this was followed by a run of 3 west victories for John Norquoy, Paul Robertson and Keith to keep the West in charge. The East boys took three of the final five games of the session with good wins for Steven Walls, Steven Tulloch and Kyran Taylor keeping them in touch but still trailing by 11-7.

After a break for food and for the Player's Championship Semi-Finals and Final to be played to a conclusion, both teams were ready for the third and final session. Erik Wilson was first up for the West, and he wasted no time in taking his game 2-0 to put the West further clear, but the East were not for lying down and two close victories for Steven Tulloch and captain Darren Tait, got the score back to 12-9, still leaving them needing to win 5 of the last 6 games to take victory. This proved too much of a challenge for them as the West's Erlend Grieve was next up on table 1 against Kenneth Vanaart, while Damien Sutherland took on Steven Walls on the other table and both West boys showed great composure to take the victories required to guarantee victory for the West. The rest of the games were played out in the good spirit that the games had been played in all day and the final score was West 16 - 11 East.

The Orkney Pool Association would like to thank all players who took part in what was a very competitive match played in a good spirit, and also the Royal Hotel for hosting the event.

Winning West team from left to right :- Brian Corsie, Michael Rendall, Keith Keldie, Paul Robertson, Steven Craigie, John Norquoy, Damien Sutherland, Erlend Grieve. Missing from photo :- Erik Wilson