Despite a slow start to registrations, Nottingham players made a last minute rush for the virtual felt with Stuart Hopkin getting in with just a minute or two to go (ty for the quick password info Ian).
Making a first APAT appearance was Shelley Bedi, the better half of George2loose (sTRINGBET) under the cunning moniker of Shel2loose
.
As the Betfair dealers started shuffling, we had a creditable 11 runners out of the 48 strong field. Luton however beat us into second for most reg"ed players with 12. Kent had 8, Sunderland 6, Blackpool 4 and Bolton, Carlisle & Swansea all fielded a brace. Aberdeen and Stoke were no shows - disappointingly I don"t believe they even have any players signed up, effectively making it an 8 team league.
As the tourney commenced, the tone for Nottingham"s night was set when StuartHopkin, still wiping the sweat from his fevered brow, was the first casualty - out (& in) in 48th!
We had a brief spell with no exits but when Fonzie14111 departed in 41st it was the beginning of a veritable avalanche of Notts casualties (Shel2loose (40th), sTRINGBET (39th), andypolack (37th), bradszz(36th) & camqueen (34th)) meaning we had lost 7 of the first 15 departures and leaving us with just 4.
A period of consolidation followed and with 19 left, we still had 4 runners and we were starting to think that we may just be able to salvage a reasonable result. Unfortunately when sambarnbrac shoved his short stack with A-rag to be called by 55 it signalled another spate of exits, with smithsj1 (18th), Bainn (15th) and our final player Jumpa (12th) following in fairly short order.
The final table formed with Sunderland"s 6 entrants forming the largest contingent with an amazing 4 survivors. Luton had 2 representatives and Kent, Blackpool and Carlisle all brought 1 to the final table.
Despite their 4 remaining runners falling in 9th, 8th, 6th & 5th, Sunderland"s sheer weight of numbers was enough to take the win, although Luton took them right to the wire with both teams scoring 12 points. The fact that Sunderland had a 4-2 advantage in final-tablists was the factor that split them. Carlisle came in a creditable 3rd despite having just two entrants.
Sunderland 3pts, Luton 2pts, Carlisle 1pt.
Following last week"s point for Sunderland, the win was enough to put them top of Division 3 with 4 points. Notts are in 2nd place with 3pts. Kent are in 3rd place with 2pts ahead of Luton in 4th (also on 2pts) due to more individual points scored. Carlisle move up to 5th place with their 1 point. Blackpool, Swansea, Bolton, Aberdeen & Stoke are yet to score.
So let"s keep up the number of entrants and hopefully the next game on Sunday 28th March will see a return to form.
