Oakbrook 7 – 2 Westfield C

Gavin B & Simon T | Tipue M A & Glen T | Dave W & John W

The feathers team would like to make it clear that they’re good really, and the fact they play in a division where half their opposition are kids and old men is purely a coincidence. Having finished 2013 with a game against Abbeydale’s team of teenagers, we started 2014 playing against Westfield’s teenagers – a number of whom had played for the Abbeydale team in previous years.

Gavin and Simon set us off to a good start, winning 21-13 21-13 in their first rubber, but the other two pairs were keen to get their money’s worth. Tipue and Glen found it hard to shake off the Christmas spirit (or, as Glen put it, the Christmas intake of food and alcohol plus a lack of practice for weeks), and struggled in the first rubber. The first game was an epic in terms of length if not in terms of quality, and the Oakbrook pair were happy to sneak ahead to win it 23-21. With the momentum in their favour, they pressed on for a victory… and promptly lost their mojo and lost the next two games 13-21 13-21.

There was then a spell of downtime while we waited for Westfield’s sixth player to navigate Sheffield’s roads and find our venue, to play in the third game. With Aaron absent, and Aamir coming back from illness, we had been in need of a replacement third pair, so had recalled the Walker duo. Realising that we were behind schedule, the Walkers did their usual trick of taking the game to three. Oddly, they seem to win more games in the feathers team when they play as subs than when they’re regular members of the team, and today was no exception as they managed to come back from a slow start to take the rubber 17-21 21-19 21-16 after exchanging the lead with the opposition many times in each game.

By now it was 20:40 and we were only just starting the fourth rubber… captain Simon was starting to worry a little that time would run out to complete the match. Fortunately Tipue and Glen decided to put their foot on the gas and played better, to come out 21-16 21-17 winners. We then got the second court back, so rubbers five and six both went on together. By the time Gavin and Simon had raced to a 21-17 21-12 victory in theirs, the Walkers (there’s a reason they’re not called Runners!) had just about started the second game of theirs. They took pity on Simon who was sitting at the side hoping they’d break tradition and win in straight games, but made sure they got the best value out of those two games with a close 21-19 21-19 victory.

By this time, to Simon’s relief, the club had all run out of energy and within 18 minutes had gone from using 3 courts to using 0. This meant the feathers team were able to finish the evening on three courts, with Simon relieved the match would finish, and the team relieved that since we were by this time 5-1 up, the final scores didn’t matter and the pressure was off.

The lack of pressure had differing effects. A negative effect on Gavin and Simon who seemed to lose a little concentration and had to make use of all three games to win it 21-17 17-21 12-12. A positive effect on Dave and John who decided it was home time, rattled through their final game 21-16 21-10 as if to say “see, what were you worried about the time for?” and were in the car to go home within half an hour. And Tipue and Glen? No effect at all, it seemed – the first game was an epic in terms of length if not in terms of quality, and the Oakbrook pair were happy to sneak ahead to win it 24-22. With the momentum in their favour, they pressed on for a victory… and promptly lost their mojo and lost the next two games 9-21 13-21.  Glen afterwards admitting that his only excuse was that everyone else played better!  We’re sure by the next match he’ll be back in the swing of things.

Overall a successful evening which means we may yet finish the year as close to the top of the division as the bottom of it. Thanks to Dave and John for covering in winning style, and thanks to Gavin and Glen for helping pack things away at the end – much appreciated!