26th February '25 v Fire Brigade (Cider Cup SF) Lost 4-6

The Tatti's bowed out of the Cider Cup at the semi final stage, losing to Fire Brigade 4-6 at the Military Club. 

It was a tight game that could have gone either way but was massively spoiled by the dreadful plastic pins. Far too frequently poor efforts, delivered way wide of their intended target, were rewarded whilst an accurate ball, hitting the pin it was aimed at, was severely punished with a bizarre fall to leave everyone shaking their heads in bemusement. 

So unfortunately, what should have been a great contest of skill between two teams with good skittlers', turned into a farcical game of who would be the luckiest. 

Sad really, but anyway it is what is, congratulations to Fire Brigade who progress on to play 'C'on Men in April's final, after they beat Beevers on the other Military Club alley.

Hopefully, that match will be much better for playing with the proper traditional wooden pins. 

21st February '25 v Buccaneers (A) Won 337-330

Not the Tatti's best performance by a long shot but fortunately, it was sufficient to beat Buccaneers by 7 pins at the Lads Club, 337-330.

At this stage of the season, points in the bag are all that matters and two more gained here has inched the Bogoes closer to a fifth league division one title in a row. They are six points clear of second placed Fire Brigade with just five matches to play.

Berti & Jonah topped the scoring but the game was more memorable for the bowl-off to secure a place in the side for next weeks away match against the 'C'on Men at the Golden Lion. With five players finishing the night on the lowest score of 24 they all had to compete for the two places on offer. And, it was Boundy (8) & Benny (7) who prevailed although Benny did need a second bowl-off to oust TK Maxx who had initially matched his 7.

"Not pretty, not pretty at all, but at this stage of the season all that matters is the 2 points. Buccaneers started well and would have been confident of completing a league double after turning us over earlier in the season. 

It looked like it was gonna be one of those nights especially with a poor opening leg of 80 and a bottom seven on the 2nd leg amassing just 37. Sometimes it’s spares that win you games but, on occasions, it’s when you get them and this was certainly the case because without good spares by cheese Ian and Rob to finish that leg the game would’ve been over. Buccaneers who are a dangerous side let us off when they returned to alley and left us us just 77 to be level on three. Another poor leg of 79 left us 2 up and when Jonah started the last leg with a brilliant flopper 15 we had something to build on to record a good last leg of 91. 94 to win for home side, looked like it could go either way but in the end they fell 7 pins short to hand us the points. A massive win, move on now for another away trip this time at the Golden Lion !! Ian and Jonah topped the scoring both scoring good 35’s"

14th February '25 v Military 'D' (H) Won 369-330

Three excellent legs by the Tatti's saw them beat second placed stablemates Military 'D' by 39 pins on their home alley, 369-330.

It has increased their lead in the title race to 6 points with six games to play. 

The stand-out performer on the night was Boundy who was very unfortunate not to score 40 or more when he suffered a very unlucky 2 on the final leg. But, by then, the game was over as a contest. 

"Another good team performance probably the best at home since the Fire Brigade game. 

A must win game we gave ourselves every chance with good opening leg of 92 and with Military D only scoring 86 & 80 the chance was there to take control and we did just that thanks to a excellent 13 spare from Dutchy, a brilliant flopper 16 from the Bound and a 13 from the MIP Cheese. 106 2nd leg, 32 up, we followed that with another 92 thanks to Rob's 15 and when the D’s chalked up a 78 3rd leg it was game over. 

Some impressive performances and the Bound should’ve topped the 40 mark and probably deserved to but was very unlucky on the last leg so had to settle for a share of the top score award with Rob, Cheese and Dutchy.

 Another game ticked off another two points keep it going boys!!"

7th February '25 v Evans SC (A) Won 362-338

The Tatti's were in top form to defeat Evans SC by 24 pins away at the Hereford Bowling Club, 362-338. 

For reasons unknown, the Bowling Club is renowned as a difficult alley to play on but in recent games the Bogoes have made light of this. In this fixture last season, on 19th January 2024, they scored 358 to win by 26, with Stuee Griff excelling with a brilliant 42.

In this game, Evans' opened with a very good 90+, twelve more than last season however, the Tatti's matched this thanks to Rusty's & Cheeso's spares. In the following leg, the bottom half excelled, racking up a superb 48 without a spare and, when Captain Ali repeated his feat from the January last year, it was enough for the top half to pip the bottom by a couple of pins & for Stuee chalk up 98.

The reply from Evans was a surprise to all and their 2nd leg sub 80 probably cost them the points. They found themselves 21 pins behind which soon became 26 pins when Prycer produced some magic to complete the Tatti's third leg. Despite a very average 80 finish, it was enough to leave Evans' more than a ton to win and for Stuee to chalk up the Bogoes highest ever total on this alley. 

"The big one!! Always the game that gets the juices flowing and when Evans started with a good opening leg of 91 the challenge was on. A good start was paramount and we got just that with excellent spares by the two Russ’s which enabled us to match the 91. Some excellent skittling and a spare by the captain and we chalked up an excellent 2nd leg of 98. 

Evans 2nd leg was ultimately the difference because at the half way point we found ourselves 21 up and when Dave produced a fantastic 17 spare to finish the 3rd leg it gave us that buffer you need on that alley against such good opposition. An average 80 to finish left the home side 107 to win and their final leg of 82 resulted in us running out winners by 24 pins. 362 on that alley is superb probably our best team performance in a while and we must keep it going now with another big game against our stablemates next week. Rusty and Dave both scored brilliant 37’s to share the top score gong"
  

5th February '25 v Painters 'B' (Front Pin Q.Final) Won 203-170

The Tatti's sailed through to the Semi-final of the Front Pin cup after a 33 pins victory over fellow Division One team Painters'B' at the Military Club, 203-170.

Painters' opened proceedings with a poor 33 leg to hand the initiative to the Tatti's in their 100th Front Pin game. They fully expected to forge a healthy lead after Booby & Berti started with a 9 & 8 but when Holly completed the leg with a duck to match TK's they found themselves just a pin in front. 

Despite two more ducks, the second leg was much better. With four 8's & a couple of 9's they left Painter's 60 to level. It was a target they never really threatened and the match became comfortable for the Bogoes to win.

The first spare was achieved by Boundy. He narrowly missed the front pin with his first ball to take down five pins & leave the long three with one of the back quarter pins behind. A perfect second delivery cleared the rest & shortly after the sticker had reset them, he duly knocked them all over again for an 8 spare. 

On the final leg, after the game was won, Berti completed a fine personal performance with 13, to end up with the top score of 35. However, he would have preferred to have done that in their league match the previous Friday!

31st January '25 v Beevers (H) Won 357-334

The Tatti's avenged their away defeat by Beevers earlier in the season by beating them on their home alley at the Military Club by 23 pins, 357-334.

By pure coincidence, the Bogoes total of 357 matched the exact score achieved by Beevers in the reverse fixture at the Richmond Club, but maybe it shouldn't have done with the top three players finishing poorly after seeing Westy fell the winning pins. 

At the start of the game all eyes were on Eric, who was playing against his former team. Despite a nervous start he floored a fantastic 16 spare to equal Boundy's superb effort in the third leg. These back to back 16's surged the Tatti's on to a ton leg to effectively end the contest. 

This was Eric's 14th spare of the season, three more than anyone else in the team but, it was Boundy who claimed the limelight, finishing with an excellent 9, to register the highest score of the night & his best of the season so far.  

"This was always going to be a hard fought game between two sides fighting for points for different reasons. With both sides recording two opening 80 plus legs we found ourselves 8 up at the midway point and after two and a half legs we still hadn’t managed a spare until the Bound stepped up to floor a fantastic flopper 16 which was immediately followed by Eric’s brilliant 16 (a bit like buses!!). A ton third leg gave us the upper hand and with Beevers chalking up two more 80 odd legs the two points were ours. An excellent win in the end with Boundy top scoring with 35"