Away to the Cock-A-2 2nd October

“I hear the strain of strutting chanticleer: cock a doodle do”

The first game of the season, drawn against the Cock-A-2, - old adversaries who played at The Castle before its demise and then moved to the Cock at Henbury; a very good team who generally achieve what the Phoenix set out to do – fluctuate between the A and B Leagues and this game marked their return to face the Phoenix. A friendly bunch so please ignore the apparent criticism above from The Tempest.

The Cock is a large pub in Henbury on the outskirts of Macc with several large rooms, one of which had been set aside for the quiz. The staff are very pleasant and friendly and the Robinson’s beer is on top form. A warm and welcoming pub.

The questions had been set by the Oxford C and were received very favourably – a good balance covering a wide range. After the first round of Specialist questions the Phoenix had slipped into a  lead of 6 with 10 to 4 – hopes soared. However the next round saw the Cock-A-2 come storming back 13 to nil!! From then until the end of the Specialist the scores were fairly even but the Phoenix never managed to make up that deficit scores ending 68 to 60 in favour of the home team.

In the General Knowledge the first three rounds all went to the Phoenix who scored 33 to the Cock-A-2’s 25 thus evening the scores. However they could not keep up  the momentum and Cock-A-2 slipped further ahead with some storming rounds final score being 163 to 147.

Individual scores were Bob 15/21, Wendy 9/21, nick 9/9, Tomo 15/15, conferred 7/14 with 5/7 passovers; the home team picked up 9/10 passovers.

To lose with 147 points is pretty surprising, but it was a very friendly match ending with a tasty selection of sandwiches. The task is to repeat that total throughout the season!!