Friday, February 23, 2024
The Clubhouse, Toongabbie
(Story by Adrian Elmer)
While there was a tournament planned for the evening, firstly, more important matters needed to be dealt with. Eating! A collection of gourmet accompaniments were lavished atop humble hotdogs, washed down with ciders and white wine, and the crew were primed to get on with the flicking.
A 9 player Swiss tournament necessitated 4 pitches - 3 crammed into the air-conditioned clubhouse proper with a 4th out on the back verandah. While the temperature had, thankfully, cooled from the high-30s of earlier in the day, there was still plenty of humidity about, along with the ubiquitous mosquitos, so players were really stretched by the conditions. Louis and Dave were the first to put themselves to this test, with Louis making a fine start and a 2-0 victory. In the air-conditioning, Adrian and Gabriel played their first ever competitive match against each other, Gabriel holding out for a significant part of the game before Adrian scored 2 late goals. Imojjen came from behind to take a 1-1 draw with Franck, while Steve and Tim played out the exact same scoreline.
Steve was unimpressed with the two mediocre goals Franck put past him in their match up, especially as Steve could only find 1 of his own in reply. Louis stayed on the humidity pitch but this time fell 1-0 to Adrian. Imojjen and John failed to bother each other's goal while Dave took a narrow 1-0 win over Gabriel.
The third round was one that could have been done without, in retrospect. Across the four fixtures, not a single goal was scored, which probably validates the benefits of a Swiss system but really didn't do much to excite spectators!
Round Four pitted John against a son for the second game running, with him going down 1-0 to Tim on this occasion. The humidity finally caught up with a wilting Louis with Franck hammering him 4-1. Steve was in clear control in his game against Gabriel and so began to give pointers to Gabriel. Gabriel listened carefully and then proceeded to score his first of the evening based on this advice! Meanwhile, for the first time ever, Dave picked up a competitive point against Adrian. Having gone behind following a fatal traveling goalkeeper error, Dave managed to eke out a small piece of space behind Adrian's defense and slip an equaliser with a few minutes remaining.
A final round of catchup games for all of those who had sat out for a bye had the potential to determine the final standings significantly. John was no match for Steve who won 3-0. Imojjen was clearly fading as the evening wore on and Tim took full advantage, claiming a 2-0 victory and slotting himself right amongst the top of the table.
That table was congested! 3 players ended the evening tied at the top on 8 points, so Power Rankings (where the relative strength of each opponent is factored in) were used to determine the winner, with Franck coming out on top, followed closely by Tim then Adrian. With every player picking up at least one positive result across the evening, placings then counted down with a single point between each successive player on the table.
Congratulations to Franck on the win and thanks to all those who came along to make another successful, well contested, and well fed, tournament.
Final table:
1. Francis Cozzarin
2. Tim Phokos
3. Adrian Elmer
4. Steve Dettre
5. David Rudd
6. Louis Dettre
7. Imojjen Elmer
8. John Phokos
9. Gabriel Phokos
Original report here: https://sites.google.com/view/westernsydneysubbuteo/tournaments
Western Sydney Subbuteo on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1379501845629782
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