BURY’S first team looked forward to winning against a lower graded Altrincham team, and an early victory by Mick Norris seemed to put this in motion.
They had not reckoned however with the visitors’ secret weapon, their two talented juniors on the bottom boards!
Even when Bernard Sharples won to put Bury further ahead, and Sean Hewitt drew on top board, all was not as easy as it seemed.
Young Joris Gerlagh was doing well against Jim Litherland, and his brother Peter was holding his own against Keith Evans.
Then Jim went wrong, to lose, and team captain Roy Wild, trying to force a win, also lost, to level the scores.
This left Keith with a difficult endgame, and the clocks rapidly running down.
His young opponent steered an impressive course however through the time pressure and the complexities of the position to secure a win which sent his team home with the points.
Bury 1st 2.5 Altrincham 3.5 SD Hewitt 0.5 N Lowe 0.5; B Sharples 1 A Lane 0; R Wild 0 W McCartney 1; MJ Norris 1 T Tomkins 0; K Evans 0 P Gerlagh 1; JA Litherland 0 J Gerlagh 1.
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