East Kilbride bounce back to win promotion
Superleague team shrug off poor early form to excel
East Kilbride’s Superleague pool team are celebrating after earning promotion at the finals in Fife.
The group stages could scarcely have gone worse, however, with a series of narrow defeats leaving the team on the brink.
Going into the final group match, a strong win and other results going their way were required. And the stars aligned to deliver a strong win as well as unlikely qualification for the knockout stages.
For a team odds on for the dreaded relegation playoff, this was a remarkable turnaround and a great opportunity to turn the weekend on its head.
A convincing win in the last 16 was followed by hard fought victories in the quarter and semi-finals to seal promotion.
That left the small matter of a final, and the team faced Cumbernauld A, the strongest team in the venue all weekend.
Cumbernauld proved too strong and won 8-3, but promotion was won and medals secured.
Captain Stevie McLean was keen to play down individual contributions and focus on the team spirit after his team battled back from the edge of despair to seal promotion.
He said: “My aim before this event was to select a team which could get us promoted and we achieved that, albeit the hard way.
“It was an absolute pleasure to captain a great bunch of guys who stepped up when it mattered.”
Meanwhile, the regular East Kilbride Pool League teams were in action over the last week with the big contest seeing Greenhills facing the Jokers in a tight match.
Despite the Jokers roaring into a 5-2 and 7-3 lead, Greenhills dug in well and sealed the four remaining frames for a well earned draw.
In other results, the Cuesters edged out Calderwood 8-6 with Darren ‘The Fear’ Greer winning the deciding frame.
The battle at the top continued with Top Guns beating Langlands 9-5 and Entertainers beating Murray 9-5.
Meanwhile, Club 72 were in fine form beating the Tower 10-4, despite the best efforts of Chris ‘The Goat’ Sproat, who had an 8-ball finish from the break in the first half.
There’s more league business to come this week with the clash between the Assassins and pacesetters Top Guns promising to be the tie of the round.