Essex County League: Ilford v Rayleigh, January 2024

22 January 2024

The Essex County League, Division Two, got off to a tricky start for Ilford on Saturday. With three teams playing at home and three playing away a total of twenty-four players were needed which really tests the strength in depth of the club, particularly when players will often have external commitments making them unavailable for fixtures.

The away teams got off to a difficult start being one person short, and therefore one rink played with three players and would lose twenty-five percent of their score. As it turned out, they were the only rink to win their away fixtures, with the other two rinks both losing on the last end by just a few points.

The home teams didn’t fair much better, winning on only one rink, and so it was almost inevitable that the bonus point for overall total would go to Rayleigh as well.

This puts us fourth in the table as it stands today, although this may be flattering as the Clacton vs Southend match was either not played or the results are not yet in.

The next fixture is into deepest darkest east Essex against Jacks where we’ll hope for better fortunes.