Worcester hosted Evesham at Pershore Gents' Club on March 29th, in the sides' second leg clash. This was Worcester's home leg, but Evesham play a number of matches from the same club, making the facilities and tables familiar to most involved on the night.

Despite a couple of changes to Worcester's line up, Dion Whittall still opened the batting and took on Evesham's Tony Baylis to see which side could establish the early upper hand. Tony applied immediate pressure with a 20+, but Dion replied almost immediately with his own 20+ to make equal the opening exchanges. They remained fairly close for the remainder of the frame, with Tony always slightly in front, thanks mainly to some clinical single-ball potting. Dion did have a tricky, cut-back blue into the 'yellow' pocket from the side cushion (near the 'green' pocket) and, with pink and black on their spots and enough on to still snatch victory, sinking the blue could still have led to a winning start for the Worcester opener. Not to be, however, as Dion missed and Tony made the most of what was left to register the win and strike the first blow for Evesham.

Whilst the first frame was going on, Worcester's Daz Bott was taking on Evesham's star, Carl Saidler, on the table next-door. An open affair, both players carved out their own chances early on, but both were unable to capitalise on what was available. It would prove to be Daz who made the last mistake, however, as Carl compiled a fine 46 in the middle of the frame, getting down to the last red and, essentially, securing victory in the process. A tough school and one in which just a couple of missed balls for Daz were the difference. 2-0 to Evesham then. This was just the start Evesham needed and, with a fractional points advantage from the first leg, even just 3-2 would surely prove enough for them to win the tie with the aggregate points also in their favour.

Two down with three to play, this was a familiar position for Worcester to find themselves in, having experienced the same situation in their opening match against Stourbridge 'A'. They turned that match upside down to win it, and were hoping to do likewise here.

Into frame three, and Worcester's Dave Guise found himself pitted against Neil Parker. An edgy frame in which both players knew what was at stake, Dave was able to make the most of the tactical exchanges and establish some degree of control towards the end. A generally unspectacular frame, it was still noteworthy for the fact that Dave was able to scrap his way to victory and get Worcester on the board, now at 2-1 down.

At the same time, frame four was in full swing on the partnering table. Captain Andy Barklam found himself facing the ever-dangerous Joe Cockerton in a bid to keep the match alive and force a decider. This was a fairly tactical frame for the most part, with balls not quite open enough to lending themselves to breaks of note, and Andy found some of his finest form to ensure that Joe was always bolted firmly to whichever cushion was most appropriate. Clinical potting and some developmental cannons helped Andy make the most of what was there when in the balls, whilst Joe was unable to establish any sort of foothold in the match. He had one decent chance that he created himself, with a long red from off the baulk cushion, but when his second red rattled in the jaws and hovered on the lip, it became apparent it was not to be his day. With just one missed ball of note in the contest, Andy sealed emphatic victory, drawing Worcester level and also bringing the aggregate point margin back to almost level.

After 9 frames, it all came down to the fifth frame of this second leg. An incredibly tense affair, it saw Worcester's Daz Cutler take on Evesham's captain, Dean Powell. Both spurned a couple of good chances around the pink and black spots, but neither would end up leaving anything particularly attractive to go at from any mistakes. A couple of small runs allowed Daz to establish a small lead and some element of control over proceedings, with Dean under pressure not to let Daz in for any killer blows. Daz would not relent, needing no mistakes on his way to some spectacular pots, particularly into the middle pockets. This was highlighted by an acute blue off the final red that, although not set to put Daz quite over the line, would have put him in a commanding position and one in which only a colours clearance would save Dean and Evesham's night. There were more twists to come, however, as Daz flicked the pink and went cleanly in-off that blue. The tension was unbearable as Dean then missed the yellow to the middle pocket from in-hand, and Daz, only needing green and brown, missed a regulation green off its spot. The two players found themselves in a situation on the brown where Daz needed one ball and Dean needed them all, but with blue, pink and black all on or near their spots, it was all about the tactical battle on the brown. Under some intense pressure, Daz was able to keep the upper hand in the tactical exchanges and, when Dean left him a long brown from baulk, Daz didn't need a second invitation. Almost breaking the back of the pocket, Daz crunched the brown in to leave Dean needing snookers and, when the blue followed a few shots later, the match was over.

This was an incredible job from the Worcester lads - once again(!) - to turn around an ominous deficit and snatch an unlikely victory, 3-2. Dean managed to nick the pink and black in the last frame, but even that was not enough to stop Worcester also overturning the aggregate deficit they faced after the opening two frames, winning as they did, by seven points. With Evesham having scored five more points in the first leg, this means Worcester added insult to injury by also edging the aggregate contest by just two points!

Worcester now head into their final match against Stourbridge 'A' knowing that defeat might still not deny them progression, but that any kind of victory will certainly guarantee it!

A hard-fought and enjoyable evening's play, many thanks must go to the Pershore Gents' Club and Neil Sheppard, who always does his utmost to ensure the club is available for these matches and who prepares the tables both before and, in between frames, during them.

Firstly, just need to praise the work and assistance provided by:

1. Neil Sheppard – Neil always goes in Friday afternoon to prepare both tables at the Pershore Gents club to give the players such a great playing surface. It’s extremely appreciated by the players and done out of pure love for the game (and occasional offered pint!)
2. Paul Finch – I actually an filled with pure relief when I see Paul turn up! Paul went beyond the call of duty this week as he wasn’t feeling well and to concentrate reffing for a whole 5 frames in the double header the other week just fuels our admiration/thanks and again like Neil there’s no financial gain but done for the love of our sport.
3. Steve D for arranging the grub! Thankless task.