Well, its just a few days to the return Kenilworth A v Kenilworth B Division 1 match that marks the start of the second half of the LDCL season, so it seems like a good time to assess the club's league and cup performances so far.
Actually, its far from that, as the headline statistics show:-
Leamington League
Kenilworth A - Div 1 - P6 W6 D0 L0 - Pts 12 - Position 1/8
Kenilworth B - Div 1 - P7 W2 D1 L4 - Pts 5 - Position 5/8
Kenilworth C - Div 2 - P5 W1 D1 L3 - Pts 3 - Position 6/7
Kenilworth D - Div 3 - P7 W3 D2 L2 - Pts 8 - Position 3/8
Open KO Cup - beat Banbury (walkover!) and play Solihull in the semi-final
U8750 Cup - lost to Leamington
U1600 Cup - beat Leamington and play Shirley in the semi-final
Coventry League
Kenilworth - Div 1 - P5 W3 D1 L1 - Pts 7 - Position 2/6
KO Cup Team - beat Nuneaton C and play Coventry University in the Quarter Final
The LDCL A team are clearly the star performers so far, with not a single individual game lost yet, and some very heavy hitters in the points department. Jude, in a remarkable start to his A team Board 1 career, has managed 5/6, a score matched by me on Board 2, while Joshua has weighed in with a mere 5/5 and Andy, Mike and Bernard C have contributed a combined 4/5.
Our C and D teams might not have achieved quite such stellar results, but it has to be remembered that neither of them is single-mindedly pursuing league success. Promotion for either would rather overstretch our resources, so their priorities are to provide opportunities at the right level for our membership - and given the very encouraging influx of new members, we find ourselves in the unusual situation of having rather too many players, until we can address this situation for next season. So both Bernard and Roy, as C & D team captains, are focussed on sharing the playing opportunities around. Anyone remember Claudio Ranieri's nickname at Chelsea? The Tinkerman. Well, we have 2 of them, and already each team has used 8 different players (4 making their debuts for us), with several more eager to join them during the second half of the season. Having said which, the C team has been a bit below par, with - rather distressingly! - Ed being the only player to have amassed more than 1 point so far! Quite a contrast with the D team, where Katya, Roy, Keatan and Harry have all been points machines when they've played! Finally, a word for the B team, which has been consistently competitive in Division 1 again, despite facing - exclusively - A teams. They can give anyone a tough match, as our A team discovered last season, and may discover again next week!
We are not going to repeat our 2021-22 performance and get all three of our teams through to the LDCL Team KO Finals, as the U8750 side put up no sort of defence of its trophy this time around and crashed out heavily at the first hurdle. But the other two teams are through to their respective semi-finals, so cup silverware is still a possibility.
Our single Division 1 team in the Coventry League has had a pretty good first half of the season, especially given the disastrous start we made in what will forever be known as the Covid-Gate match against Nuneaton A. But after a clean sweep against the 3 Warwick University teams and a gritty draw against Coventry A, we sit in a respectable 2nd position, two points behind Nuneaton A who look clear favourites to lift the title. Even though the first round of the KO Cup is still a week away, we are already through to the Quarter Final against Coventry University, as our intended opponents, Nuneaton C, were unable to raise a team. So our defence of the trophy is alive and kicking!
Completely random choice of music this week, but - naturally - its more high quality stuff. I can hardly believe its 50 years old. Almost makes me want to weep. And is it me, or does the lead singer remind you (even just a bit?) of Jim Plaskett??
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