The Drogs March On at our expense!!

Drogheda came to town yesterday with their strongest team, hoping to consolidate their current status. The game started badly for us, got more hopeful ………before the wheels finally fell off. Christoph took a can of Red Bull before bringing out an early Queen and lost his wings, monarch and game against rising star Sean. Mark dug deep to hold Cillian in a tight game; Post match analysis revealed chances for both players and a missed winning advantage for the visitor. Gavin won a classy encounter against Alan Dee, where giving up a central pawn led to a rook exchange advantage via the Bishop. Gavin held the centre avoiding all the tricks and traps to force an exchange of Queens and tie the scores. At this stage, it was anybody’s game…….Michael  found both the Clock and good moves to extend Paul McDonnell to a long match, but experience won out eventually. A good showing from our team-mate though. The Dinosaur lost an early tempo with an extra Bishop move, and a further miscalculation cost a piece & initiative. Brendan then avoided a tactical scrap, forced the exchanges and it was a much chastened Dinosaur who conceded to the inevitable. Piotr had the advantage in space and initiative against wily Paddy MacDonnell but with his Queen being frozen out of the action, Paddy engineered a winning attack to finish strongly. The 1.5-4.5 final scoreline is harsh considering that we battled long & hard, with most of the games being competitive, but the result counts, and Drogheda sail on by……………..clear at the top!.

For us……..it looks like a Bleak Mid-winter is forecast!!