Bangor only narrowly defeated St Andrews in the first round, with 125-105, in one of the handful of low scoring first round affairs. The underdogs tonight were unchanged from before:
Adam Pearce, from Barry in the Vale of
Glamorgan, studying Translation Studies
Mark Stevens, from Widnes in Cheshire,
studying Environmental Science
Captain: Nina Grant, from Enfield in
London, studying French and Linguistics
Simon Tomlinson, from Manchester,
studying Neuropsychology
Durham, on the other hand, scored the second highest score of the first round, defeating Strathclyde by 245-70. They were also unchanged:
Durham, on the other hand, scored the second highest score of the first round, defeating Strathclyde by 245-70. They were also unchanged:
Philip Ferry, from Northumberland,
studying Maths
Katie Vokes, from Edinburgh, studying
Maths
Captain: Richard Thomas, from Hook in
Hampshire, studying Politics
Dominic Everett Riley, from Farnham in
Surrey, studying English
So, on paper, an easy victory for Durham. And normally Durham get my undivided support, due to my mother studying at Trevelyan College Durham. But not this time: one of the Bangor team has been kind enough to post on here and LAM under the name 'Welshguy', or, more recently, 'BoiCymraeg'. So, therefore, my impartiality was holding firm tonight.
The Welsh quickly shot out into a lead, with Simon Tomlinson, an impressive scorer in the first round, getting the first three starters, and only one bonus going astray. Paxo was forced to tell Durham it was time they got going, which they did, lowering the gap to 70-40 by the first picture round.
But Mr Tomlinson hit straight back, and the lead rose again. Bangor maintained the main momentum in the second phase, and the shock was on. Even when Mr Tomlinson interrupted to early, losing five, he immediately bounced back with the next starter. Durham took the music round, on cover versions of songs, with the first bonus being a cover of a song by the starter band, and so on. None of these bonuses were converted, and Bangor led by 115-70.
But Durham weren't beaten yet, and, in the next phase, they began to fight back. Bangor bettered their score from the first round with a starter on a Welsh song that, according to Paxo, if they'd got wrong, they'd not have been let back into Wales! But, amidst the laughter, the lead was shrinking, and, by the second picture round, on paintings that inspired poetry, Durham had cut the gap to just ten points, 130-120.
Into the final stretch of play, and Bangor's lead increased again. But two starters from Durham saw the lead vanish completely, and Durham led for the first time in the game, with not much time left. Cue Simon Tomlinson, who'd had a quiet phase, who took a crucial starter, and one bonus leveled the scores. With not much time left, Adam Pearce took a crucial starter, giving Bangor back the lead. And the gong went during the bonuses! The shock was complete; Bangor won a tense match, 175-165.
Very hard lines to Durham, who played brilliantly, and could easily have won on another day; Philip Ferry got three starters, his three colleagues all got two, and the side made 15 bonuses out of 27. But very well done to Welshguy and co for a deserved victory! Simon Tomlinson ended the match with six starters to his name, and the side converted 16 bonuses out of 28 with one penalty. That's how close this was. Well done indeed!
Next week's match: Manchester vs Imperial, in the first quarter final
And, if you missed any of tonight's match, and don't have iPlayer access, you can see it again on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.
So, on paper, an easy victory for Durham. And normally Durham get my undivided support, due to my mother studying at Trevelyan College Durham. But not this time: one of the Bangor team has been kind enough to post on here and LAM under the name 'Welshguy', or, more recently, 'BoiCymraeg'. So, therefore, my impartiality was holding firm tonight.
The Welsh quickly shot out into a lead, with Simon Tomlinson, an impressive scorer in the first round, getting the first three starters, and only one bonus going astray. Paxo was forced to tell Durham it was time they got going, which they did, lowering the gap to 70-40 by the first picture round.
But Mr Tomlinson hit straight back, and the lead rose again. Bangor maintained the main momentum in the second phase, and the shock was on. Even when Mr Tomlinson interrupted to early, losing five, he immediately bounced back with the next starter. Durham took the music round, on cover versions of songs, with the first bonus being a cover of a song by the starter band, and so on. None of these bonuses were converted, and Bangor led by 115-70.
But Durham weren't beaten yet, and, in the next phase, they began to fight back. Bangor bettered their score from the first round with a starter on a Welsh song that, according to Paxo, if they'd got wrong, they'd not have been let back into Wales! But, amidst the laughter, the lead was shrinking, and, by the second picture round, on paintings that inspired poetry, Durham had cut the gap to just ten points, 130-120.
Into the final stretch of play, and Bangor's lead increased again. But two starters from Durham saw the lead vanish completely, and Durham led for the first time in the game, with not much time left. Cue Simon Tomlinson, who'd had a quiet phase, who took a crucial starter, and one bonus leveled the scores. With not much time left, Adam Pearce took a crucial starter, giving Bangor back the lead. And the gong went during the bonuses! The shock was complete; Bangor won a tense match, 175-165.
Very hard lines to Durham, who played brilliantly, and could easily have won on another day; Philip Ferry got three starters, his three colleagues all got two, and the side made 15 bonuses out of 27. But very well done to Welshguy and co for a deserved victory! Simon Tomlinson ended the match with six starters to his name, and the side converted 16 bonuses out of 28 with one penalty. That's how close this was. Well done indeed!
Next week's match: Manchester vs Imperial, in the first quarter final
And, if you missed any of tonight's match, and don't have iPlayer access, you can see it again on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.
This wasn't nearly so much a shock to me as I'd already seen Bangor mentioned as playing in the Quarter-Finals. But a very impressive performance even so and what a turn-around from a low-scoring first match! What I did not know was the scoreline so when for a while it looked like the match could turn into a hammering, I was ready to be fairly surprised. A narrow victory in the end, but against one of the first round's top teams. Good work BoiCymraeg, I think you got at least three starters(?) and one very crucial one right at the death!
ReplyDeleteSee you in the Quarters, then. And enjoy your radio appearance tomorrow!
Phew! I remember this match being much closer than it seemed to be on TV, yet it seemed pretty close on TV! I don't remember us building up such a lead, but there you go. I'm proud to have bettered my 0 starters in the first round by getting 3 this time, as well as the "winning" one of course - probably my finest moment of our whole campaign.
ReplyDeleteI think Simon really shined on this one - as I was watching it I was thinking, "How the hell does he know this stuff?!" But I'm glad I showed we're not just a one-horse team either. And the bonuses were, as always, team efforts.
What was that you were saying before about someone leaking a result on Twitter? Was it this one?
Well, first of all Adam, many congratulations on your victory. I couldn't have seen it coming on paper at all!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the leakage, well, it was actually your captain who made the accidental slip! Miss Grant teased on Twitter prior to the Bristol-Imperial match that 'the best wrong answer ever' was coming up. She later remarked that she'd made a mistake, and it was actually in 'UCL's first quarter final'. This was a week before UCL's second round match.
No offense is intended to Miss Grant, BTW; it appears to be an honest mistake.
Whoops I didn't realise that would implicate us as being in the QFs - my bf is on the UCL team so he could have told me about it... theoretically.
DeleteHi Nina, and welcome! And many congratulations on your victory on Monday!
DeleteI didn't realise it was you when I read that tweet. I thought you might just have been in the audience for those matches or something. Your tweet said nothing to me of your prowess, but it did accidentally drop a hint that UCL would win reach the quarters.
Your boyfriend is on the UCL team? Wonder what Paxo will make of you playing each other.
Thanks for dropping by, and I hope you take no offence from what I've said.