Ø First on was Brian at #1 against the jovial Israeli Yoav. No problem, Brian worked hard, played well and only conceded 10, 3 & 10 points. Good start 3/0 up
Ø Next on was Keith at #2 against the lanky Justin who brought his vivacious GF Ash along. Keith did well to get 10 points in the 1st & 12 in the 2nd. Then the wheels came off and Keith could only manage 4 points in the 3rd. 0/3
Ø Enter Paddy at #3 against Steve. Although being well rested and sharp after an extended holiday, Paddy also had to work hard and had to draw heavily on his considerable experience and use his full array of clever shots. All the games were nail bitingly close, but Paddy determinedly kept it together conceding 12, 13 & 11 points. 3/0
Ø Finally, John was on at #4 against Patrick. Lost the 1st game getting 10 points but was seriously distracted in the 2nd (see GF above) getting only 4 points. Fortunately join then regained his rhythm (?), and got up to 11 points in the 3rd . 0/3
So, it was six games to each side and time to count points. Well, with Keith and John only managing 4 points each in one of the games they lost @#$%*&^%#$%&^% the points score was a rather close 141 – 149. Only eight points in the end, but we lost the match.
Des and JohAn were there in support as usual (on a chilly night at cold Old Eds courts brrrrr), but BAb underwent his cataract surgery the day before so was excused. That’s apart from the shoulder surgery from which BAb is still recovering. The sick, lame & lazy squad members will be back soon to win some matches for the team – watch this space.
Off to JB’s Corner at Melrose Arch for dinner, where we were not only joined by GF Ash, but also the Old Eds 8th league team who had a bye or something on the night but in typical Chamber 10 (A) spirit played each other, supported their 10th league team and ogled Ash the GF.
Overall result: Lost 6 - 8
