Match 10 - Redbridge Away
Our final match of the Autumn season presented us with the unenviable task of driving to East London once again, to face a Redbridge side destined for promotion to Division 1. Despite our car being packed with Club Champions from Sunday's finals night in the form of Paul, Dave and Adrian, our cause wasn't helped by the absence of No.1 Chris who was away on study leave.
I'd like to say the journey to Redbridge was a smooth one, but it turns out that Adrian's navigational skills are only slightly better than that of the legendary Marcus 'park in the wrong sports centre' Allan! So after a scenic voyage around some of the capital's back streets we arrived just in time to see Colin facing match ball in the contest of the No.3's versus Dave. However now that the support had turned up, Colin would surely stage a magnificent fight back and claim victory......... or maybe not and the first rubber went to the home side.
Next on were the No.2's Adrian v Dave and the No.4's Dave v Julian. Adrian started brightly and quickly took the first game. The second game turned into a bit of an epic struggle. When it finally reached 8-7 the serve changed hands several times as Adrian tried to take a commanding 2-0 lead, but Dave battled back to eventually level the match 1-1. Despite Adrian giving his usual 110% effort, Dave visibly upped his game and started to produce some crisp winners and ultimately ran out a 3-1 winner.
Meanwhile on the court next door, Captain Fantastic was hardly living up to his moniker and having a torrid time against Julian. Midway through the 2nd game, as another error came from Dave's racket, the cry of "Absolute piss-crap!" seemed to sum up perfectly his performance so far. Soon after Dave was 2-0 down and facing match point at 5-8 in the 3rd. However, he finally started to get the ball past his slow-moving opponent and fought back splendidly to reduce the arrears to 1-2. From then on there was only going to be one winner, and Dave completed an excellent comeback and won 3-2.
The final matches on were the No.1's Paul v Paul and the No.5's Marcus v Tom. I knew I was going to be in trouble when in an early exchange I hit what I thought were two winners in the same rally only to find myself retrieving from the back corner! Redbridge's No.1 was a formidable opponent and despite getting close in the 3rd game, his speed around the court and accuracy proved too much and he secured a convincing victory.
Marcus was finding the going similarly tough in his match against the tall Tom. The first two games went the way of the home player, but the third was a much tighter affair. With the score locked at 7-7, there was a feeling on the 'gallery' (well the 2 foot square space behind the courts) that if Marcus could just pinch it he would probably go on to win the match. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be and Tom wrapped up a 3-0 victory and with it a resounding 4-1 win for Redbridge.
Thankfully there was no talk of aging soap stars in the bar this week! Instead we were left to reflect on a semi-satisfying season. Our overall record of 4 wins and 6 losses is not too bad, and should hopefully be good enough to keep us up and have another crack at Division 2 after the break.
So until then, Merry Christmas to all. And don't eat and drink too much over the festive period.......... Yeah right!!
Results:
Paul v Paul 0-3
Adrian v Dave 1-3
Colin v Dave 0-3
Dave v Julian 3-2
Marcus v Tom 0-3
Clements lost to Redbridge 4-19
I'd like to say the journey to Redbridge was a smooth one, but it turns out that Adrian's navigational skills are only slightly better than that of the legendary Marcus 'park in the wrong sports centre' Allan! So after a scenic voyage around some of the capital's back streets we arrived just in time to see Colin facing match ball in the contest of the No.3's versus Dave. However now that the support had turned up, Colin would surely stage a magnificent fight back and claim victory......... or maybe not and the first rubber went to the home side.
Next on were the No.2's Adrian v Dave and the No.4's Dave v Julian. Adrian started brightly and quickly took the first game. The second game turned into a bit of an epic struggle. When it finally reached 8-7 the serve changed hands several times as Adrian tried to take a commanding 2-0 lead, but Dave battled back to eventually level the match 1-1. Despite Adrian giving his usual 110% effort, Dave visibly upped his game and started to produce some crisp winners and ultimately ran out a 3-1 winner.
Meanwhile on the court next door, Captain Fantastic was hardly living up to his moniker and having a torrid time against Julian. Midway through the 2nd game, as another error came from Dave's racket, the cry of "Absolute piss-crap!" seemed to sum up perfectly his performance so far. Soon after Dave was 2-0 down and facing match point at 5-8 in the 3rd. However, he finally started to get the ball past his slow-moving opponent and fought back splendidly to reduce the arrears to 1-2. From then on there was only going to be one winner, and Dave completed an excellent comeback and won 3-2.
The final matches on were the No.1's Paul v Paul and the No.5's Marcus v Tom. I knew I was going to be in trouble when in an early exchange I hit what I thought were two winners in the same rally only to find myself retrieving from the back corner! Redbridge's No.1 was a formidable opponent and despite getting close in the 3rd game, his speed around the court and accuracy proved too much and he secured a convincing victory.
Marcus was finding the going similarly tough in his match against the tall Tom. The first two games went the way of the home player, but the third was a much tighter affair. With the score locked at 7-7, there was a feeling on the 'gallery' (well the 2 foot square space behind the courts) that if Marcus could just pinch it he would probably go on to win the match. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be and Tom wrapped up a 3-0 victory and with it a resounding 4-1 win for Redbridge.
Thankfully there was no talk of aging soap stars in the bar this week! Instead we were left to reflect on a semi-satisfying season. Our overall record of 4 wins and 6 losses is not too bad, and should hopefully be good enough to keep us up and have another crack at Division 2 after the break.
So until then, Merry Christmas to all. And don't eat and drink too much over the festive period.......... Yeah right!!
Results:
Paul v Paul 0-3
Adrian v Dave 1-3
Colin v Dave 0-3
Dave v Julian 3-2
Marcus v Tom 0-3
Clements lost to Redbridge 4-19
posted by Hodgey at 1:37 PM
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