Evening all. On we carry with the second match of the second round. Winners tonight would go through to the increasingly unpopular group phase, the runners-up would go home. No women on tonight's show, apart from in the audience, and also, possibly, the only possible case of a team playing their own football stadium! (Sorry, you really have to know your football to get that! If anyone knows any other possible permutations where this could happen, do tweet me or tell me here!)
Birmingham were initially trailing Queen's of Belfast for most of their first match, before overtaking and running away with the match in the final stages, ultimately emerging on top 165-105. They were the same four that we saw last time:
Elliot Jan-Smith, from Derby, studying Chemistry
Fraser Sutherland, from Edinburgh, studying History
Captain: George Greenlees, from Plymouth, studying Medicine
Chris Rouse, from Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, studying History and Politics
St Andrews also spent much of their first match against Worcester of Oxford in a losing position, though never too far behind, and they just snuck ahead at the end to win 175-145. They too were the same four as before:
Matt Eccleston, from St Helens, studying International Relations and Spanish
James Green, from Schaffhausen in Switzerland, studying German and Persian
Captain: Toby Parker, from Bristol, studying Maths
Andrew Vokes, from Edinburgh, studying Chemistry
Off we set again then, and the match didn't exactly get off to a good start, with Birmingham incurring a penalty; St Andrews capitalised and took a full set of bonuses on devices. Mr Green went straight for his buzzer with 'Ambrose Bierce' when he heard the words 'Devil's Dictionary', only for the question to swerve a request a word from its definition instead; Birmingham took control, but only got one bonus from their first set, on November the 5th, which, had Autumnwatch not interfered, would have topically gone out last week. Birmingham took the next two starters, but, in both cases, took just one bonus from each set. The first picture round, on philosophical works in their original languages, went to Birmingham, who, again, took just the one bonus, nonetheless increasing their lead to 55-20.
A nice starter on the names of places in Somerset made it five in a row for Birmingham, and their bonus hoodoo lifted as they swept the board on a set on cell biology. Mr Greenlees, impressive in the earlier round, took his second starter in a row and third of the night, and a second consecutive bonus full house, on fish, put them into triple figures. St Andrews finally broke back into the match courtesy of Mr Vokes; a bonus set on actresses featured on the AFI's list of 20th century screen legends provided them with two correct starters, and a slight slip from Paxo, who pronounced Bette Davis' first name as 'Bet' rather than 'Betty'. (Shame William G Stewart wasn't there to correct him!)
The music starter was dropped; the bonuses, on pieces written for variations of the piano trio, went to Birmingham after a fresh starter. Just the one bonus followed as the Midlanders upped their lead to 120-40, before Mr Green reduced it by ten by taking the next starter. A complicated bonus set on geographical parallels saw the Scots side take one, and unluckily miss the other two. Mr Sutherland increased Birmingham's lead, and a bonus set on pairs of words, one of them a cheese, where the final few letters of one and the first few of the other are the same (didn't we have that a few weeks ago?) provided them with five further points.
The second picture round, on portraits of French writers whose work was banned by the Roman Catholic Church, went to St Andrews, who took a full house, keeping themselves in the game as they cut the deficit to 135-80. Mr Greenlees just about took the next starter, and a bonus set on Berlin museums offered them two correct answers and ten more points. A second starter in a row went to Mr Greenlees; a bonus set on 1996 elections gave me a very rare full set, but just the one from Birmingham, who nonetheless offer some amusement by suggesting Carlo Ancelotti was Berlusconi's predecessor as Italian PM!
A third starter in a row went to Mr Greenlees, a bonus set on human anatomy fell right into his lap, and that was game over. But St Andrews weren't going to give in yet; Mr Green took the next starter, but final words of Shakespeare characters got them no further points. Two starters in a row were dropped, with St Andrews losing five in the process, before the Scots side deservedly reached triple figures thanks to a starter and two bonuses. St Andrews took the final starter, but there was no time for bonuses. At the gong, Birmingham won 195-115.
A decent enough match despite it being sort of one-sided. Unlucky St Andrews, who were very much still in it until their opponents ran away near the end, but two perfectly respectable efforts, so thanks very much for playing. Very well done to Birmingham though; another good victory over decent opposition, and good luck in the group stage!
Mr Greenlees was, again, best buzzer of the night, with seven starters under his belt, while Mr Green, again, was St Andrews' best with four. On the bonuses, Birmingham converted a decent 18 out of 33 (with one penalty), while St Andrews managed an also good 11 out of 18 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: don't know yet, but I suspect we'll be seeing one of the repechage survivors based on the last six years.
Only Connect saw a very unusual occurrence tonight: a mistake! I mean, I know we've seen some very improbable things this year, but come on! All will be revealed tomorrow.
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