So, we now have our two Only Connect finalists. Both won through to the final in matches that were difficult for different reasons.
Match 11: Welsh Learners vs Relatives
The Welsh Learners, Margaret Gabica and Stuart and Chris Hern, went directly through to the semis beating the Software Engineers and the Record Collectors; the Relatives, Hamish and Davina Galloway and Davina's son Nick Latham, lost their first match to the Europhiles before defeating the Exhibitionists and the Record Collectors. At first, the Welsh Learners seemed to have the edge, with both teams scoring well in the first two rounds, but the Learners maintaining a slender lead. The Walls proved crucial, as the Relatives, while not solving the wall completely, managed to score sufficiently enough to level the scores. A slightly better showing in the final Missing Vowels round saw the Relatives complete the turnaround to win 18-15. Bad luck to the Learners, but they've played brilliantly all series.
Match 12: Europhiles vs Software Engineers
The Europhiles, Douglas Thomson, Mark Seager and Khuram Rashid, as stated above, defeated the Relatives in the first round, before doing likewise to the Heath Family to go directly to the semis. The Software Engineers, as also stated above, lost to the Welsh Learners in the first round, but recovered with wins over the Erstwhile Athletes and the Heath Family. This was quite possibly the hardest edition of Only Connect thus far; after the first round, the Europhiles led 2-1, and after Round 2, the Engineers led 3-2! Both teams managed a respectable wall effort, before one final sprint on the Missing Vowels saw the Europhiles emerge on top 11-7, the lowest ever aggregate for an Only Connect match. Bad luck to the Engineers, but they too played well all series.
So, the final on Monday will be a rematch between the Relatives and the Europhiles. Hopefully, I'll be able to provide a full review of the final rather than a quick summary. Best of (retrospective) luck to both teams!
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