Ever The Bridesmaid …

 

… Never the bride.

The Phoenix were question masters this week and therefore could not improve their score. At 8PM they were top of the B League with the Castle and Nags Head yapping at their heels with the Church House Bollington  with the Church House Bollington very close behind.

Bob chaired the meeting between the two teams who will be leaving the B League. and the match was played with much resigned good humour - the result unimportant. Two good teams will be leaving us, but I'm sure this will be a temporary arrangement. The Albion are always a pleasure to play, with the usual good brand of banter from John Hargreaves and Matt Eagles. The Cock have had a weak season by their own standards and Jackie Hulme summed their season up with a wry comment when the match started - "See!, we can't even win the bloody toss!".

Wendy says the game at the Lamb was played with "end of term" good humour. The Lamb won by about 16 points, despite playing with a beer mat as third player for most of the first half. The questions didn't go down too well, though.

Tomo was at the Castle and it was odd in that they did not want promotion , having once been there for 3 seasons. However, one of their team got a clean sweep in the specialist rounds and the joke was that he was trying to scupper their failure! A good natured match, possibly the last ever in The Castle, which is something of a pity as this old pub is something of an institution in the town and the Quiz League.

Nick was question master at the Nags who were playing the Church House - quite a key match and a very interesting game. Both teams had their own scorer and although there was a check at the end of each round it was a very good-natured game and each round happened to coincide with Nick’s tally (which was fortunate). The Nags had a slight lead at the end of the Specialist but the Church House fought back doggedly and with just two rounds to go it was level pegging. Every question was then keenly fought for with the Nags just edging it with a win of only 2 points. The evening was rounded off with a magnificent supper of Italian meatballs, chips and bread and butter. Great stuff!!

So from being top, just two hours later they were third and no promotion. No matter – we’ve had a great time, our sister team from the Tavern will be joining us next season and we look forward to another great autumn/winter.

BREAKING NEWS – FOR THOSE TEAMS SEEKING A NEW VENUE – the Prince Albert in Newton St will next week become a free house and could well be interested in hosting one or even two quiz teams!!

And finally we could not sign off without a massive vote of appreciation to Mark for his unflagging support and hard work throughout the season.

15 March

 

Yes, this week is the last appearance of the Phoenix in the 2010/11 season. Next week we will be question masters and closely watching the results as there is a slender chance that we might be promoted to the A League next season.

The final game was against old friends the New Castle and was played with much good humour as the following exchange will illustrate:

Question “What is the name of the soft spot on top of a baby’s head?”

Ans “fontanella” quickly corrected to fontanelle

Graham “When it’s a girl it’s fontanella”

Nick “I thought that was the G spot”

Graham “That’s where you’ve been going wrong all these years”.

This exchange ignited Nick’s usual weak spot (remembering names) although he was confident enough when asked for Boy George’s surname, answering firmly “Dowd” forgetting the O!! One passover there then!

Special mention must be made of the question master for the night Julian who was flexible but firm and gave a lot of insight into the vetting of the questions.

The specialist rounds were particularly good although at the end the Phoenix were trailing 50 to 52; this deficit was recovered in the General Knowledge questions and the Phoenix managed to edge ahead eventually finishing with 79 to 63 the final score being 129 to 115.

Individual scores were pretty good except for Nick who was no doubt pondering his missed biological opportunities, whilst Bob had a storming run in the General knowledge. Scores were Bob 9/24, Wendy 6/15, Nick 6/3 and Tomo 6/18; conferred points were 14/10 and passovers 9/9. The New Castle collected 6/7 passovers.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the season and look forward to 2011/12 in the autumn.

The evening finished with a superb supper of sausages in onion gravy with bread and butter and the Tavern’s famed real chips.

Thank you Brian and Tracey for your support throughout the season, the New Castle for a great evening, Julian for running the quiz excellently and our opponents over the season for an excellent series.

Specialist Battering for Pancake Day

 

The Phoenix’ penultimate game, at home to the Cock, Henbury who have frequently caused an upset in the League. But this time we were confident – not only did we have Rosie the mascot, but the Cock were having to play with just three players and a beer mat.

Not wishing to waffle on (geddit?) but the Phoenix playing at home were being egged (!!!) on from the bar. However this did  not last long as the Arsenal Barcelona game started and the bar were distracted. The Cock lost the toss and the Phoenix went first with the Specialist questions. These were fine, but for some reason the Phoenix were not coming up with the answers and there were no big scores – in fact they were struggling and at the end of the Specialist were losing 43 to 36.

A beer break (Easy Rider!!!) and a check on the football score led into the General Knowledge with the Phoenix playing rather better but again there were no spectacular scores – they managed to overcome the deficit and then inch ahead winning that section by 64 to 37.

All credit must go to the Cock for playing valiantly with the beer mat – they did very well indeed.

Individual scores were Bob 3/15, Wendy 9/9, Nick 3/6 and Tomo 6/9; conferred points were 9/13 and passovers 6/12. The Cock picked up 8/8 passovers. Final score 100 to 80 in favour of the Phoenix.

A very pleasant evening was rounded off with a fine selection of sandwiches – thank you Brian and Tracey, and a big thank you to the question master Matt Eagles and the Cock for a great game with humour and good spirit.

1st March–Home to the Plough Horntails

 

As the season is drawing to a close and the top of the League is still very much open with several teams struggling to pick up every point, tonight’s game was bound to attract much interest. And as well as Manchester United playing Chelsea, the Phoenix were playing the Plough Horntails. The tension was unbearable.

The Horntails are old friends and it was good to welcome them to the Tavern, although we did not have our mascot Rosie. This seems to have dented the Phoenix’ confidence as they stumbled through the first couple of rounds; eventually however they regained composure and began to inch ahead.

The Specialist questions were very different to run-of-the-mill questions taken from a quiz book, in particular round 7 that was really four questions in one but was very popular. At the end of the Specialist the Phoenix had edged ahead with 56 points to 41.

The General Knowledge were fine but did not have the “bite” of the Specialist and the Phoenix managed to hang on to their lead winning those rounds with 69 to 68.

The game was overseen with good humour and understanding by Heather from the New Castle and the final score was 125 to 109 in the Phoenix’ favour.

Individual scores were Bob 15/15, Wendy 15/3, Nick 3/9 and Tomo 6/18; conferred points were 10/17 with 7/7 passovers. The Horntails won 7/12 passovers.

A great game rounded off with a generous selection of sandwiches – thanks to Heather, the Horntails and as always Brian and Tracey.

 

Oh … and United lost – can’t win ‘em all!