Evening all. If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I have just started a second blog, Jack's Other Blog, where I hope to be talking about non-quiz things, mainly my experiences and thoughts of football. And, to borrow a football metaphor, tonight's match pitted the footballing capital of Scotland against the footballing capital of England (arguably); the winners would survive to the play-offs, the runners-up would bow out.
Glasgow defeated fellow quarter-finalists Emmanuel in their first match, then snuck a win against Goldsmiths of London in the second round, but their first quarter-final saw them fall to Durham 170-110. Hoping to recover and keep the prospect of two Scots teams in the semis alive were the unchanged foursome of:
Lewis Barn, from Airdrie, studying Professional Legal Practice
Freya Whiteford, from Bonybridge near Falkirk, studying Physics with Astrophysics
Captain: James Hampson, from Helsby in Cheshire, studying Medicine
Cam Herbert, from Burley-in-Wharfedale in West Yorkshire, studying Sociology with Quantatitive Methods
Manchester defeated East London narrowly in their first match, and then more comfortably beat Hertford of Oxford in their second, but their first quarter-final, the one shown on the Tuesday, saw them lose 170-130 to Edinburgh. (In fact, were it not for the new BBC Scotland channel, tonight's match would probably also have been delayed until tomorrow here) Also hoping to bounce back from that were the also unchanged foursome of:
Alexander Antao, from Chingford in London, studying Mathematical Logic
Georgia Lynott, from Burnley, studying Applied Maths
Captain: James Ross, from Coventry, studying Classics and Ancient History
Joe Hanson, from Gravesend, studying Data Intensive Science
Off we set again then, and Ms Lynott opened the scoring for the night with 'Pascal'; the side took a single bonus from their first set on post-modernism. Mr Herbert opened Glasgow's scoring with 'A Tale of Two Cities', and they took two of their first set, and with them the lead. Mr Hampson increased that lead with 'La Boheme', giving his side a bonus set on cell biology, of which just the one was taken. The first picture round, on island groups highlighted on maps, went to Manchester, who got a reaction from Paxo for claiming the Faroe Islands to be between Sweden and Finland! They took the other two bonuses though, leveling the game at 35-each.
A classic UC starter followed, asking, if France is FP and Germany GB, which two European countries would be SB? Mr Barn knew them to be Serbia and Slovakia, the link being the initials of the countries and their capitals. The Scots side took another pair of bonuses on film critics, including an amusing definition of Rotten Tomatoes! Mr Ross halved the lead by taking the next starter, but they got nothing from the resulting bonuses. Ms Whiteford then made sure all four Glasgow players had answered a starter right, and they took another pair of bonuses on the work of Ted Hughes.
The music starter saw Mr Hanson identify Philip Glass' Einstein on the Beach; the bonuses, on pop songs about scientists, provided Manchester with a single correct bonus, which reduced their arrears to 75-60. It decreased further when Mr Antao took the next starter, which meant all eight players had a starter to their name, but no bonuses on cities purpose built as capitals followed. Another starter from Mr Antao took Manchester into the lead, but, again, they got nothing from the bonuses, a very tricky set on classical mechanics. A third starter in a row went to Manchester's left winger, and this time, a single bonus went with it.
The second picture round, on works by professors at the Royal Academy, went to Manchester, who took two bonuses, which took their lead to 115-75. Still all to play for entering the home straight, but when Mr Hanson identified the geologist James Hutton (as I'm sure my geologist Dad would've too were he not watching the football instead!), and another duo of bonuses accompanied it, Glasgow now really needed to go for it on the buzzer.
A chance came when Mr Antao slipped up on the next starter, and Mr Barn did the right thing in having a guess, but only managed to get a second exasperated reaction of the night from the host! And when Mr Antao made up for his error by taking the next starter, that was game over; a single bonus followed, but those points were then lost to a technical interruption. Glasgow couldn't capitalise, and then dropped five of their own with an unfortunate early buzz; Mr Hanson took the points, and there was time for two bonuses, of which one was taken. At the gong, Manchester won 155-70.
A good enjoyable and entertaining contest, well done both teams, and kudos for clapping each other at the start and end of it too. Unlucky Glasgow, outplayed on the buzzer in the second half, but a decent and entertaining series of performances, thanks for playing! Well done Manchester though, and best of luck in the play-offs!
The stats: Messrs Antao and Hanson were joint best of the night with four each, while all four Glasgow players ended the night with a starter each, Mr Hampson ending their run their best player, with sixteen starters over four games. On the bonuses Glasgow converted 7 out of 12 (with one penalty), while Manchester managed 11 out of 33 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: Bristol vs St Edmund Hall, back at the old time of 8, with Only Connect at 7:30.
Only Connect finally ended its group stage tonight and completed its knockout stage line-up. Review of that on Wednesday I hope.
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