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.