Kent U9s narrowly miss out on third place in the EPSCA final
Kent U9s finished a very creditable 4th from the 19 teams
competing at the EPSCA finals in Northampton on Saturday April 25th
2015, just 1 point behind third and four points behind the winners, Barnet.
The team started cautiously in round 1 with 8/12 leaving us
in fifth place. Although on paper this looked a slow start there were some
great individual performances with the team winning most of the first nine
games played and then being edged out in some very tight games from strong
positions as the games approached the time limit.
Chris reminded the group that team could have slow start and
bounce back strongly and the team responded scoring a resounding 10/12 to end
the second round on 18/24 and climbing to third place overall just behind
Cambridgeshire on 20 and Barnet on 19.
The momentum from the second round continued into the third
round with the team winning the first seven games completed and looking very
capable of scoring ten plus points again. After the strong start the results
became much harder and we finished the round on 8.5/12 scoring 26.5 points in
total. Although a top three score in most other years, it was not enough to
overtake Barnet finishing with 30.5 and Cambridgeshire finishing with 28 and
also not enough to prevent a stong finishing Hertfordshire team from overtaking
us.
All the team made valuable contributions with everyone
working very hard in every round and improving immensely from their zonal
performances. Thanks to Chris for insightful coaching and all the parents for
being very supportive throughout the day.
1st: Barnet 30.5/36
2nd Cambs 28
3rd Herts 27.5
4th Kent 26.5
5th= Essex, Wey Valley 23
7th= Sussex, Glamorgan
9th= Notts 20.5
John Merriman
U9 Team Manager