ZUNDERT - The final knock-out was handed out in five crazy minutes. When the first of the playoffs between Topsport Zundert and Cues&Darts went on to the break this Thursday night, the match could have gone either way. The home team (Zundert) seemed to be heading for a 4-0 lead, but the roles were turned in a few minutes. Not Sergio Jimenez and Francis Forton won for Zundert, but Glenn Hofman and Huub Wilkowski for the Tilburg opponent. The moral blow, handed out in barely five minutes, resulted in a deserved 2-6 victory for Cues&Darts after the break.
So what happened in that short, and as it turned out, decisive span of time before the break?
Sergio Jimenez had shortly before ran out to a 37-26 lead with a strong run of 7 against Glenn Hofman and had the win up for grabs with 3 points to go.
Francis Forton, also with a run of 7, ran to 35-31 against Huub Wilkowski and still had plenty of chances to finish it off, as his opponent could only chip away with small runs and Forton was able to run out to a favorable score 38-34 and in the ultimate closing stages to 39-36.
But then, at those scores, Cues&Darts suddenly grabbed its last chances and the errant Zundert team was overblown and overwhelmed. Glenn Hofman, buoyed by his already weeks of magisterial form, went to the finish line with runs of 4, 8 and 2, leaving Jimenez on 2 points: 40-38 in 17.
At the other match table, Francis Forton was gripped by tension in the closing stages. The Belgian twice missed a bankshort, missed 1 match ball, a 2nd match ball and saw Huub Wilkowski finish with 2, 3 and 1. And to make things worse, Forton also missed the equalizer for a precious draw: 40-39 in 35.
The decisive tap was not long after that. Ruben Legazpi quickly ran to a comfortable lead against Thorsten Frings in the second part. Two runs of seven by the Spaniard and a last of three brought the match to a final score at 40-22 in 21 innings. That was the moment when Cues&Darts could celebrate the win in this first match for the playoffs. Sam van Etten could still save the honour for Zundert by beating Pierre Soumagne 40-26 in 28.
The winner Cues&Darts will play Team Eekhoorn in the week of 27 May, the winner of that match plays on 8/9 June against SIS Schoonmaak for the Dutch title.
Ruben Legazpi scored the decisive win against Thorsten Frings