Preston 2 v Poulton 1

After a delayed start due to unforeseen circumstances which resulted in the club not opening until nearly 8pm, Poulton produced a solid team performance to take the points home, albeit later than usual. Poulton had new players D McMenamin on board 3 and N Wolnick on board 4.
Martin Mitchell made no mistakes as he overcame Peter Jowett on board one. Pete played a Benko Gambit and at one point he thought he was getting sufficient counter-play, but he had misjudged the position and Martin closed out the win.
On board 2, I was up against Barry Hymer and in the end he got the win his play deserved. I had made a middlegame error of judgement which cost me a pawn for little play. As the game progressed I did manage to complicate things enough to level material, but Barry had a slightly better position going into the ending and he played well to force the win despite my attempts to sacrifice material to get an attack on his king.
Clifford Rutlidge got his customary draw on board 3 against D McMenamin, Clifford looked the more likely to win earlier on, but the position petered out to a draw.
Paul O'Mara tried to best to put pressure on N Wolnick on board 4 with his usual attacking style, but young N. Wolnick repelled all the threats to claim a solid draw. So all in all a deserved win by Poulton who had non playing captain Simon Rogers looking on.