Southbourne Seagulls V Poole Bishops

Press / Admin Comment

Adults plus experience just beat the kids on the night in a match that could have been 2-2. Well played all & especially Finn & Zander both with good wins. All to play for now in this league with 3 teams on equal points.

eric sachs

Southbourne Seagulls vs Poole Bishops,

With two juniors withdrawing at a late stage, Southbourne Seagulls had to draft in some late replacements and, as had been expected, were underrated compared to the Poole Bishops team and its trio of talented juniors, Zander, Leo and Harry. Many thanks to Ken Dixon for agreeing to play for the Seagulls just 2 hours before the start. Southbourne Seagulls got off to a flying start with a quick attacking win by junior Finn Schell on board 3 against young Harry Mercer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Harry’s night against the excellent play from Finn. After newcomer Anton Vann made it 2 – 0 for the Seagulls on board 4, it looked as though Southbourne might be in with chance of an ‘underdog’ victory. But then Poole Bishops' top 2 juniors, Zander and Leo, showed their class, both outplaying their opponents by reaching rook + pawn then king + pawn endings, in both cases a pawn up. Zander managed to find the win on board 1 with his opponent, David, running out of time but unfortunately for Leo, the difficult win was missed on board 2 with Leo and Ken agreeing a draw and Southbourne Seagulls, perhaps fortunately, winning the match. This is the third match between the teams this season and all have been closely fought ending with the same 2.5 - 1.5 scoreline, favouring the home side. Fantastic stuff!

Nikki Forster