Grange 3 home v Waverley 4 on 28th November 2008

Another successful night for the thirds who are really getting a roll on over the last few weeks. This time it was against some promotion-rival opposition which makes the 14-7 scoreline all the more valuable.

Mark Dutton went on first at No 4 against John Usher and like most weeks to date completely failed to get down to business in the first game and turned up to play only in the second. John was quite a tough opponent and in particular the enormous backhand crosscourts that he could unleash at will. Those big backhands, combined with a very deceptive backhand drop left Mark floundering (and diving)on numerous occasions. The second game just eluded him at 9-10 and the third was a close tussle too until three more of those backhands finished it off quick-smart. 0-3 for the first loss of the season.

Russell Langley went on at No5 against Neil Kimpsell and picked up his fourth 3-0 victory in a row. Russell played well within himself and was able to comfortably cope with Neil's occasional bouts of resistance by stepping up a gear when needed.

Patrick Langley was next at No 3 against young whippet David Munro. This reporter only managed to see the third game but if that was representative then it was a very good tussle indeed. David was a very fast and agile player with a big hit and excellent touch...but our own whippet was'nae a slouch either. Patrick played an excellent third game to come back from 4-7 down and responded to all of the young lad's tricks with some pretty tricksy hobbit stuff of his own and took the thoroughly entertaining match 3-0.

Next up at No 2 was Christy Looby against Damien Noade. Christy played very well for long periods and was able to dominate Damien but then would let himself down with some losses of focus and Damien would be back in it. Christy was dominating overall though and found himself 2-1 up in games and having closed out the third on a high the gallery was thinking that the wrap up was a formality. However, Damien really came out of the box and reeled off a sequence of unanswerable points and it was all Christy could do to stop the train with few handouts and points towards the end of the game. The final game was well fought but Damien pulled away at the end. 2-3.

Pete Cockburn opened up in very good form in his first game at No 1 against Don Shearer and was off the court in just a few minutes. Sterner resistance from Don in the second was also overcome by Pete but the third game was a different story with Pete losing to set up what promised to be an interesting and entertaining final two games. In the final analysis it only took the one and Pete continued his recent very good form to dominate the game in the face of some spirited resistance. 3-1.

Next week we take on Waverley 3 and despite their apparent ranking were convincingly beaten by this Waverley 4 crew in a recent outing, so we'll be looking for a good result at Suffolk Road to consolidate our spot at the top of the table at the end of the first half of the season.