Preston 2 V Lytham 1

Press / Admin Comment

The scoreline does not accurately reflect the match as Lytham were on top for over an hour despite being outgraded on most boards. Boards 1 and 5 looked even and on the others I thought Lytham had very promising positions. Rob Gallagher was very solid against Conor Reaney, who's pawns seemed misplaced and Rob managed to wrap up a win without too much difficulty. I was under severe pressure from Philip Raynor and Peter Thompson was little better against David Aspinall. The next game to finish was board 5 where Alan Pidcock and Peter Wilson agreed a draw. In the latter stages of the match the tide turned in Preston's favour as David Aspinall made a fatal blunder and lost to Peter Thompson. Whilst I was still under pressure I managed to get reasonable counter play and eventually found a tactic based on the vulnerability of Phil's king position and forced an unlikely win. On board 1 John Coopers resistance eventually came to an end and Peter Jowett won to make the match score a flattering one based on the balance of play for much of the night. Commiserations to Lytham who put up a very creditable fight.

Phil Taylor