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SleM writes
With nothing left to play for, it was going to be tough to get motivated for our last fixture of the year. This was made even more difficult as out of the original 41 squad players selected, only 31 were able to attend, so we were potentially 2 players short. Thankfully, three other squad members, who had not been selected, were there, hoping to get involved and each of them made a contribution in, what turned out to be, an enjoyable end to the season.

Unfortunately, we got off to another bad start and, not for the first time this year, we found ourselves 5-0 down. Once again, it was Brian Petty to the rescue, as he registered our first frame of the day and the start of his man of the match performance. Mark Miller, Simon Le Marchant and Dave Tootill followed his lead to bring us back to just 5-4 down, however London took the next two to lead 7-4 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was our best part of the match, which we started by taking four of the first frames thanks to wins from Steve Sherstone and Luke Willsher (two of the players who stepped in at short notice), Brian and Max Brooker. The next six were shared and the three Surrey winners were Chris Pidgeon, Darren Porter and Simon, which meant that it was 11-11 at the halfway stage.

It was tight overall during the third quarter, although every time we looked like we were getting on a roll, London bounced straight back. We took the first two, thanks to Scott Lee and Max Brooker, however, we then lost the next two. We then won the next three, as Brian, Luke and Darren won their frames, however, we then lost the next three! Chris then won the last frame of this quarter to give us a slim 17-16 lead.

One change was made at this point as Bob Taylor was brought in for the unfortunate Dan Barthrop. Bob played and won the opening frame and with Steve also winning the next, we appeared to have an important three frame lead. Although London won the next frame, Luke and Darren put us four ahead with five to play and just one frame away from a guaranteed draw. London did then win the next frame, however, Brian made another significant, and ultimately crucial contribution, by winning the next. We then only needed to win one of the next four to finish the year on a high, however, London's final four proved too strong for us, as they took them all. Although we were disappointed not to finish with a win, a draw was probably a fairer reflection of the match overall, which both teams appeared to enjoy.

Individually, there were solid performances from Max, Chris, Simon and Steve, however, there were great performances from Luke, who bounced back from losing his opening frame to win the next three, and Darren Porter, who could not do any more than win three himself as he was "dished" in his first frame. My Player of the Match was Brian Petty, not just because he won all four, as he got us going after a bad start (once again!) and won the frame that ensured we got a draw.

Thats it for, what turned out to be, a challenging and (for the majority of the time) enjoyable year. What we must not forget is that we were in the hunt for the Region title until we lost at Berkshire in September, which, in my opinion, was a credible performance, particularly considering how many players we used during the course of the year. My player of the year was Chris Pidgeon, who came into the squad this year, ended up with the best record and will be knocking on the B Team door at the start of 2010. Brian Petty and Dan Barthrop also had pretty good years, in my opinion, as did Mark Miller and Darren Porter (in also his first year in the squad).

Next year will be an even bigger challenge for Surrey as a whole, as a few of the squad players are stepping down now, however, I am sure that there are plenty of others out there ready to step up.

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