Varsity 2017: Warwick win battle of the baize to secure early lead

Final score: Warwick 37-33 Coventry

Current Varsity score: Warwick 2-0 Coventry

It’s just under a week until the Ice Hockey signals the start of the Varsity weekend, but on Thursday 16 March the Pool team looked to avenge last year’s loss to give Warwick a flying start this time around. The teams consisted of 14 players each in a best of 70 tie, meaning that the first to 36 would win. This included four rounds of singles matches and two rounds of scotch doubles.

The opening round of singles matches was tight and shared at 7-7. Warwick were unfortunate not to have held a lead, after a few favourable positions slipped by and Joel Speed lost to a fluked quadruple black! The second round of singles compounded those missed opportunities, with the experienced duo of Dan Nicholson and Chris Musson both losing and Speed experiencing some awfully bad luck; he potted the black from a total snooker but the cue ball went in too. This meant Coventry pulled ahead at 16-12 before the two rounds of scotch doubles, where players play alternative shots.

The increased pressure helped Warwick focus and they took the last four frames

Warwick needed to make sure they kept Coventry in their sights during the scotch doubles, as Coventry had won seven of the previous eight frames. It was another very close start, but the increased pressure helped Warwick focus and they took the last four frames. Nicholson and Speed impressed in the most tactical frame of the night, which ended with Nicholson expertly playing a double to leave Speed the easiest of blacks. This reduced the deficit to just 17-18.

The second round of scotch doubles proved similarly fruitful. First Anthony Church and Qas Shabir maintained their 100% record to bring the tie to 18-18 and start off a devastating late Warwick run, as they won the final three frames. This included a glorious kicked cocked hat double from Ryan Woolhouse to create a 22-20 lead heading into the final two singles rounds.

Even though Coventry had squandered their early lead they hadn’t given up. The fightback was well and truly on in the third round of the singles as, although Warwick were now full of confidence, Coventry had played well in the earlier singles rounds. They continued from where they left off to move 28-26 clear, only for Warwick to pull back the final two frames of the round to leave it level at 28-28 with just the final round of singles to play. This left each team needing eight more frames to secure the tie and the precious Varsity points!

With just the final round of singles left to play, each team needed eight more frames to secure the tie and the precious Varsity points!

Shabir got Warwick off to a good start, maintaining his 100% record. This was just the start of a devastating spell which saw Warwick take seven of the first 10 frames, with Woolhouse sinking a long black to keep his 100% record. The resulting 35-31 lead meant they were just one frame away from victory.

Coventry were still fighting hard and came back to 35-32, but Rob Keogh had other ideas, recovering from a poor positional shot to knock in his final three yellows and the black to give Warwick a hard-fought, yet thoroughly deserved win. A final score of 37-33 secured Warwick’s first Varsity points to get this year’s competition well and truly underway!

Warwick team: Chris Musson, Dan Nicholson, Rob Keogh, Anthony Church, Sammy Valder, Qas Shabir, Ryan Woolhouse, Dan Forrester, Joel Speed, Tom Miller, Martin Barltrop, Barri Matharu, Bo Liu and Julian Schmid.

Image: Warwick Pool

Thanks to Anthony Church for contributing to this report.