Surrey County Pool Association Official Website

Sunday January 13th saw the second stage of the Mens County Trials taking place at Rileys in Sutton.

However before the Men got underway, the Ladies were also in attendance, with a couple of existing squad members looking to reclaim their places in the 2008 Ladies line-up. Perhaps equally as important is the fact that we had 4 new players trialling and from what I saw, they all appeared more than capable players, and with a little of that County experience under their belts, there is no reason why we couldn't be looking at the latest batch of up and coming International players.

The Ladies started with Louise Lambert playing Dianne Jeffery (3-0), Debbie Pearse playing Rema Behnam (2-1) and Cathryn Fox playing Lisa Peek (1-2). In the second phase, Louise played Debbie (2-1), Cathryn played Dianne (1-2) and Lisa played Rema (2-1). The final phase pitted Louise vs Cathryn (2-1), Lisa vs Debbie (3-0) and Rema vs Dianne (0-3).

When the smoke cleared, we welcomed 5 new players into the squad taking a reserve as well, just in case we find ourselves short. Congratulations to Louise, Lisa, Dianne, Debbie and Cathryn who all qualified with Rema taking the reserve spot as well.

This lead us nicely into Stage 2 of the Mens trials, where 30 runners were competing for 10 available places in the Senior squad.

A very strong field including notable returning County players such as the prodigal Danny Evans and former A team Captain Matt Pisano. Additionally we had talented cueman like Noah Allison, Billy Donovan, Tony O'Connell and James East, as well as County stalwarts of known pedigree such as Simon Le Marchant, Steve Rains, Gareth Williams and Scott Lee.

Outside of these players there were a number of familiar faces including the elder statesman and veritable Godfather of Surrey Pool Bob Taylor, as well as Eddie Hudson, Stan Robinson, Billy Stewart, Adam Hewson, Dave Jones and a number of other affiliated cue carrying hopefuls looking to earn their right to pull on the Surrey white.

With the challenge set as 'win 5 before you lose 3', and players constantly being matched against competitors whose stats were the same at any given point, the process was both fair and threw up some great matches.

First through the field in what must have been record time, was Godalming player Eddie Hudson, securing his place for 2008 with impressive 5 and 0 stats.

Next to claim their squad places were Mark Laxton (Tolworth), Billy Donovan (SPPL) and Noah Allison (Premier) going through with a well earned 5-1 score.

Further good performances saw Dave Hussey (Reigate) qualify with a 5-2 scoreline, along with Simon Le Marchant (SPPL) and Tony Pidgeon (Dorking).

At the twitchy bottom end of the trials we saw Dave Jones (Reigate), Jon Prothero (Croydon), Scott Lee (Tolworth) and Steve Rains (Dorking) all come through their last matches to take the last remaining places in the squad.

The day was full of surprises but 'upset of the day' must go to Danny Evans (Croydon) who attended the trials, hoping to return to his original County of Surrey, after a year of self imposed exile over in Kent.

Danny must have thought he'd won the lottery when he was drawn out against Stan Robinson (Premier) in the first phase. When things didn't quite go his way, Danny must have thought he was about to lose, only for Stan to rattle his last colour and watch it hit the jaws and roll away from the pocket, opening a nice gap for Danny to pop the black into.

If it hadn't already, pool mortality must have suddenly hit Danny when he found himself on the losing end of his next frame against Simon Le Marchant (SPPL). What could so easily have been 0-2 actually ended 1-1 and with Danny winning his next to go 2-1, he must have felt that he was getting back on track. Unfortunately for Danny, Gareth Williams (Godalming) had other plans and planted him right back on 2-2, leaving him knowing that if he lost one more frame, he was toast.

Up steps Dave Jones who was also on his last legs in the competition and after a miss from Danny, Dave took out a nice finish to keep his hopes alive but smash Danny's to pieces.

Fortunately for Danny, Surrey have a system in place when recognised players fail to qualify for the squad. Danny now holds a place on the list of esteemed played who needed a helping hand over the trials line.

In all seriousness, the trials were very hard this year and hopefully this is the shape of things to come. When only 11-12 people get through a field of 30 top league players, it tells us just how difficult it is to qualify. Nobody said playing for your County was easy.

Sadly, there were a few losses to the squad this year proving again, just how tough it was. This year we have to say au revoir but hopefully not goodbye to Justin Anderson, Bob Taylor, Matt Pisano and Gareth Williams.

That rounded off what was a well run and relatively drama free day, certainly as far as the organisers were concerned anyway, and leaves Surrey going into our first County match of 2008 at Sutton against London on Februrary 3rd, with a squad that is arguably stronger than any that Surrey have ever fielded.

Congratulations to all those that came through, with genuine commiserations for those that dropped short of their own high standards on the day. We hope to see you back again next year.

That as they say, is pool.

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