3-Cushion
LOCHEM/OOSTERHOUT - Even Glenn Hofman's dash to the finish line (9 and 1), good enough for a victory over Eddy Leppens, could not mask the fact that his team was disappointed. Buffalo.nl, reigning league champion, had to concede a draw to Bousema Lochem. ,,We no longer have a chance at the play-offs'', said Glenn Hofman after his 40-28 win. It is not entirely true: the guys from The Hague are two points behind the nr. 3 in the table , but with only two rounds to play, the chances are minimal.
Buffalo has matches remaining against Team Eekhoorn (at home) and TOVV/Royal Pro (away). For a year, they have enjoyed the high point in their history: the Dutch team title. Their club icons Cor Trampe and Ferry van der Veen have done all they could to market the success, but even they soon saw that a prolongation was not in the cards. The Buffalo's made too many missteps, and were off to a false start early in the season. This Sunday in Lochem, the losing players were Jean van Erp and Herman van Daalen. ,,We should have won'', said Hofman, but on what basis he said that is unclear. Jean van Erp lost 40-25 in 21 to Stefan Galla and Herman van Daalen lost 40-24 in 36 to Harrie van de Ven. The scoreboard told the story loud and clear.
Eureka Billard, proud leader in the table, could afford a 4-4 in their away game against Team Eekhoorn. They are safe in the upcoming weeks. The team will still play at home against TOVV, and in the last round away against Burgmans Biljarts. Eureka defends a four point lead over the number two, Medisch Centrum Breda.
Medisch Centrum (27 points), A1 Biljarts (26), HCR Prinsen (25) and Dallinga (24) are the contenders for positions two and three, the two teams that will decide who takes on Eureka for the championship. Medisch Centrum will first meet already relegated TOVV2, then Dallinga in the final round. Dallinga has that match, and a game at home against A1 Biljarts, which puts them in a key role. The team from Zeeland has chances of their own, after their 8-0 win today over TOVV2. HCR Prinsen still has a home game against Burgmans and an away game against A1.
The 20th round of play did not change much. The status quo remained, and the top teams had relatively easy wins.
For Eureka, Raimond Burgman and John Tijssens won their matches against Kurt Ceulemans and Kenny Miatton, but Dave Christiani lost to Frans van Kuyk (40-33 in 30) and Jerry Hermans celebrated his 29th birthday with a narrow win (40-39 in 31) over Adrie Demming.
Medisch Centrum got the better of 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy with Roland Forthomme (v. Jef Philipoom) and Peter Ceulemans (v. Ad Koorevaar) as best winners, in 23 and 26 innings respectively. Best Dallinga player was Frédéric Caudron, with a win over Kay de Zwart (40-17 in 19). HCR Prinsen won their away game against TOVV/Royal Pro with an excellent Dick Jaspers: 40-30 in 16 against Martin Spoormans. Richard Bitalis and Raymund Swertz made it 2-2 at halftime, Jaspers and Jelle Pijl gave Prinsen the full win.
A1 Biljarts won, thanks to an outstanding Gerwin Valentijn match against Marco Janssen (40-19 in 16), and Eddy Merckx (in 21) and Martien van der Spoel (in 27) handed A1 the 6-2 over Burgmans. Valentijn ran away with a run of thirteen in the fourth inning, and he closed with a six.
There is still tension at the bottom of the table. TOVV 2 is out, but Bousema Lochem (11 points) and Burgmans Biljarts (12 points) need to decide who will be the second team to relegate.
Bousema will go and visit 't Hartje/Van Wanrooy in the next round, then play TOVV2 at home. Burgmans has a much tougher program: away against HCR Prinsen, then at home against Eureka on the final day.