Friday 14 October 2011

Grange 3rds vs Dunbar 1 (Div 3) - Thursday 13th October 2011

The two referee points doubled Grange 3's point score on the night which is probably all you need to know about this fixture against a very good Dunbar 1 side. Those of a nervous disposition may want to stop reading now….

Ok…mebbe it wasn't quite that bad on the ground as everybody really did play well and picked up plenty of points against tough opponents, but the scoresheet on a games and matches basis doesn't make good Grange reading.

First up at no5 was Richard Nisbet against Alistair Nichol. A very convincing win for Alistair in the first game was followed by a second in which Richard just failed to get his nose over the line after having game point. The third game was also very hard fought but Alistair had the greater control and took it well in the end. 0-3.

Matt Pearson took on the very useful Evan Green at No4 and matched him well in the first two games despite the look of the 3-9, 4-9 scorelines. Matt then began to dominate as he finally found some good depth and width to take it 9-5. The fourth game started the same way but then Evan put on a spurt and grabbed six quick points. Matt put a stop to that but despite valiant efforts the remaining few points were eventually found by Evan. 1-3.

Team debutante Stuart Moffat played very well against the very tough and experienced Allan Ramsay at no 3. The pattern of each game was the same with a big struggle and lots of hand outs to around five or six points apiece but each time it was Allan who put the pressure on at the right time to pick up the last few points per game. A very useful new addition to the team squad for Stuart with a very good first up performance and can only improve further with some more matches under his belt.

Next up was Mark Dutton at no2 against the infeasibly speedy Graeme Jones. Mark led convincingly in every game (5-2, 5-2 and 4-2 respectively) but Graeme's incredible nippiness around the court and in particular his eye-hand coordination when it came to getting racquet to ball and doing something annoyingly useful with it when under pressure saw him peg that back each time to leave Mark with a 0-3 loss. That despite some pretty impressive long "hang-time" dives to rescue some rallies. All in vain though.

The match of the night came with Christy Looby at no1 against the rangy David Legge. Christy was under the hammer in the first game at 1-9 but came out fighting in the second to take it 9-5. Then began a battle of attrition characterised by some big crisp hitting, nice touch and in some extraordinary retrieves under pressure from both players, particulary a couple of David's back-wall boast retrieves, one of which Christy rather disrepectfully responded to with a fabulous backhand cross court stone-dead nick. David managed to snatch the third game after Christy had led 8-5 at one point. The final game was a battle and a half with David initially pulling away to lead 5-8 but Christy grabbed the poll position back with some desperate work to see himself at game point. A few handouts for both players but David grabbed it in the end. A 1-3 loss for Christy but not far from turning the tables. Overall 4-20.

A second single point loss in a row for the thirds. We're not too far off the quality of the opposition but we'll all need to find another point or two per game from here on to give this division a shake.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Agreed, Dunbar are very good.

Signed,
Watsonians 2, who lost 1-18 the previous week.