End of the line

We lost our quarter-final in the BBO InterCity League by just three imps last night and so bow out of this season's competition.

We had beaten Nikšic by six imps in the round-robin so a tight match was expected, but Jim, Bill, Danny and Helen established a useful half-time lead. Although imps had flown in all directions, excellent defence from Bill to beat a three notrump and consistent good judgement in the part-score zone had us in front.

The second half imps went mainly in the other direction. They made a slam where the only killing lead was from K10 in an unbid and a game slipped through on the next hand. The part-score swings went in the other direction, mainly due to lack of aggression on their part, but we were still six imps up when the final board hit the table. With the opener holding a balanced 14 count, the difference in the hand was the 14-16 or 15-17 1NT opening that would, or would not, be used. Different auctions left us losing nine imps when we went negative in both rooms - no-one did anything wrong, just one of those random swings.

It's been a pleasure to captain the team for the 16th edition of the league. The next one starts in mid-March and I'm sure we'll be back.