Mens Feathers 3 – 5 Abbeydale C

Simon O & Simon T | David W & John W | Tipue M A & Aaron G

Today’s excuse: Most of us haven’t hit a feather shuttle in about six months!

David and John, last year’s super-subs with more wins for the team than any of the normal pairings, now have a fixed place in the team. Sadly they left their winning streak in Mens Plastics 1, and lost their three games, despite two very close (and very long!) three-setters. This is much more in keeping with our normal feathers standards, so we’re sure they’ll fit in well.

Simon and Simon were more successful in their new partnership, with three straight-set wins. If they can keep the same level of play up for the rest of the season, then they can be assured of some more wins, and a team of pigs will do a fly-by to celebrate.

With Gavin ill at home, Aaron kindly stepped in to partner Tipue. They got better as the evening went on, and only narrowly lost their second game in three sets. With time running out after earlier difficulties parking before the match, and then some long matches, they knew that 10pm was approaching fast when they took to the court for their final game… and then proceeded to wait until 26-24 before winning the first set. That left only time for one more set before we got kicked out of the hall, and with Abbeydale taking that one, we had to call it a tie.

Close games throughout, and with some excellent rallies along the way, it was a good first match. With a little more luck in the three-set matches we could perhaps have stolen a victory.

Tuesday 13th December 2011

9-0

Simon O, Ed S | Nick F, Simon T | David W, John W

The University Staff are the second team to have entered the feathers league for the first time this year. After welcoming Abbeydale E team by beating them, we hoped to extend a similar welcome to the Uni Staff.

Simon O and Ed started off against their first pair, in one of the longest games we’ve had this year. The Staff’s first pair had an unusually good defence but weak attack, so many of the points were decided by whether or not Simon and Ed hit a winner, or hit it out. Eventually they managed to hit slightly more in than out, and won 21-19 19-21 21-17.

Nick and Simon T found it very similar when they played the first pair and had to maintain consistency to break the solid defence. By varying between excellent and dreadful play, they took it close, and despite looking down-and-out at numerous times, they came back from 17-20 in the final end to win 13-21 21-16 22-20. Hopefully that helped clear Nick’s cold!

Meanwhile we were finding the Staff’s second and third pairs an easier prospect with straight-set wins each time. Simon O and Ed made short work of their games, scoring at twice the speed of their opponents, with a total of 84-40 across both, while Nick and Simon notched up 84-53. David and John, substitutes for the feathers team once again (and therefore now actually our second most regular pairing despite not officially being in the team!) scored a similar 84-55.

For a historic first 9-0 win in the feathers league for at least half a decade, David and John needed to beat the Staff’s resilient first pair. But rather than taking it to three games and winning by a tiny margin, they decided to tease the official feathers team members by making it look easy, and winning 21-16 21-13.

Sunday 11th December 2011

6-3

Tipue M A, Simon O | Andrew B, Simon T | David W, Alfie S

Abbeydale’s E team are made up of a number of their juniors, with a probable average age of about 15. This is their first time in the feathers league, and they’ve been finding it hard going – they told us they’d lost all their first 8 matches either 1-8 or 0-9 this year – so we were hoping for our second victory of the year.

Playing a strong first pair of Tipue and Simon O, we were confident of them taking all three games. They took a while to warm up and only just won the first game 24-22, but from then on eased to victory, mostly 21-13s and 21-12s.

The only other regular Feathers team player, Simon T, paired up with Andrew for his first feathers game in some time. All their games were close, particularly a 27-25 victory in one game, but their experience (and ability to duck under all the bullets that went out at the back) was enough to see them win every game by two or three points each time.

Our third pair saw David, one of our most regular substitutes, paired with Alfie, new to our team and having to relearn how feathers fly. Their games were all equally as close as Simon and Andrew’s, but sadly the result of each was a loss by a small margin. Their closest effort saw them finish 19-21 in the third game, and certainly they were deserving of winning one of their three.

Thanks to our substitutes for giving us a team, and a 6-3 victory is our best so far this season so we’re happy with that.

Tuesday 6th December 2011

4-5

Simon O, Aaron G | Nick F, Simon T | Tipue M A, Ed S

A full team for the first time this year arrived in Abbeydale for the second of six fixtures against Abbeydale in this division.

Their first pair was their strongest, and we lost all our games against them, though they were all close, and Aaron and Simon O took them to three games.

Their second pair was their weakest, and we won all our games against them, including a convincing 21-8 21-8 win by Aaron and Simon O on top form.

So the match was decided with the three games against their third pair. Aaron and Simon O weren’t able to continue their good run, and narrowly lost 20-22, 18-21. Tipue and Ed went closer still, losing 21-23, 20-22. Nick and Simon T played their best in this game and won 21-18, 21-17, but overall the team was one game short of victory and lost 4-5.

Friday 11th November 2011

4-5

Simon O, Chris R | Nick F, Simon T | David W, John W

In an odd game, we almost won before we’d started, but ended up narrowly losing.

Abbeydale turned up 30mins late, and with only two pairs. Had Simon been in a grumpy mood, or had they not apologised for their tardiness, we’d have claimed the first two games for them being late, claimed all three against their absent third pair, and won 5-4 before setting foot on the court.

Unfortunately for our promotion prospects, which are admittedly dim at best, we only claimed the three against the absent third pair, and played the other six.

John and David Walker, standing in once again as third pair for our team, started strongly, beating their better pair 15-21, 21-16, 23-21. That better Abbeydale partnership did win their other two games convincingly, leaving the match result to be determined by the games against the remaining Abbeydale pair.

Simon and Chris’s attempt at taking that game ended in a close 19-21, 20-22 loss. Simon and Nick’s attempt started better at 21-10, but ended with a similarly close and similarly unsuccessful 18-21, 21-23 loss. The Walkers, having already won one game, were kind enough not to rub it in by winning the other one as well, so their sole victory left us one game short of a match win, and Abbeydale took a somewhat unlikely 5-4 win.

Thursday 13 October 2011

3-6

Ed S, Simon O | Nick F, Simon T | Tipue M A, Willie McK

The uni had been a division above us for the last few years, but were relegated down to our division this year, so this was the first match with them for a while, and the first time we’d played them at Hillsborough College (which turned out to be relatively easy to find but almost impossible to get into).  Their first pair were noticeably a level above us, and they won their three games easily.  Their other pairs were more our level, and we had some very close matches – five of the six going to the third game.  Nick and Simon won both theirs, finishing each with a narrow 21-19 victory.  Ed and Simon came from behind to win one, and then dropped from ahead to lose the other.  Tipue and Willie made a brave and tiring effort, but were unable to win either despite a tense 24-22 victory in one of the games.

Friday 7 October 2011

5-4

Aaron G, Simon O  |  Nick F, Simon T  |  David W, John W

Always close between Oakbrook and Phoenix, and this was no exception.  Their third pair proved to be their strongest, winning all their three games, with only David and John able to take them to a third game.  Their second pair, seemingly defeated by the colour of the lines and the speed of the shuttles before they’d started, never really settled, and we won all our games against them.  That left their first pair, and the two regular feathers-team pairs were able to win by small margins, giving us a 5-4 win overall.