24.03.14

Match Man Of The Year - Andy Bennett

“I am delighted to win The Matchman Of The Year award, for the 3rd time in four years. After a runner-up medal last year, it was a great feeling to bring the trophy home.

The format had changed compared to previous years, due to a new sponsor and with it brought a bigger prize fund of a mouthwatering £5000 to the winner.

For those that don’t know, it is a nationwide-run league, which is free to enter and is run on a points system. To accumulate points there has to be over 30 anglers present on the weekend matches only.

The point scoring system is simple – 3 points for every match win with 30 plus anglers, 4 points for 40 plus and 5 points down to one in a 50 plus match.

Throughout the competition, I managed to accumulate a total of 98 points, this ran from June 16th 2013 - March 16th 2014. The runner up finishing on 72 points.

I started the season slowly. In fact, I didn’t score my first point until July 14th 2013, which was a 2nd place finish in a 45-peg match at Hall Lane. I then managed to score 20 points in three weeks, which really kick-started my season.

At that point, I was still well off the early pace, but the defining moment for me was the Christmas period, where I managed to win angler of the month. Throughout that period I scored 21 points in a month, which consisted of four wins and two frames, in seven matches.
If I were to pick one match that defined it all for me, it would be at the Partridge Lakes winter league. I drew peg 73 on round eight. On its day, it’s a brilliant peg, but after three hours and only managing 11 fish for around 14lb in the net, I knew that something had to change. The wind turned ever so slightly and with it brought a change in fortunes. I went on to catch a fish every put in for the final two hours. That boosted my weight by 55lb, totaling 69lb and an outright win.

The key was consistency throughout the seasonal changes, making sure I kept the match wins coming. After my dreadful start in the first month, I managed to score every month after that. So, I’m delighted to be Preston’s Matchman Of The Year once more.

A big thanks to everyone at Guru and Bait-Tech for the continued support and everyone that made this event possible.”

Andy Bennett.

Check out the movie section to see Andy's exclusive film about his latest triumph.
http://www.tackleguru.com/movies/?id=349

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