Fourths Stay Top with Tight Win

Grange IV stayed top this week with a hard fought game against Dean

This week's intrepid adventurers were Andy Beames, Andy Claymore, Anthony Fitzgerald, Rocco and myself - a pretty good turnout for the fourths.

Being first up, I was a little alarmed to see a fresh faced student who was 'just getting back into it' which usually means 'I used to play Division 1'. But as it turned out, I was able to benefit from his rustiness for a 9-3, 9-3, 9-1 win.

On the other court, Anthony was involved in a ding dong, and by the end he had almost broken sweat! The first two were exchanged 6-9, 9-3 before entering a tense third. From 1-5, Anthony brought it back to 6-5 before it began to slip away and he faced game point at 7-8. But some heroic retrieving kept him in the game and he closed it out 10-8 before taking the fourth 9-2 for a 3-1 win. Well fought Anthony.

Andy Claymore up next, looking to follow up on his debut win last week. Great court speed gave his opponent little chance and the game was soon over 9-6, 9-2, 9-7 for a 3-0 unassailable lead.

Andy Beames went on court to keep the score turning over. But while his opponent played well, Andy simply didn't. What can I say? After winning the first game 9-5, the second was soon lost 7-9 and the tide was turning. The third went 9-2 and we waited for that famous fitness to kick in.  And so it did. But it didn't do much good. In the fourth, Andy seemed to think he was playing racketball and played through countless lets and strokes. In the one game alone he didn't claim three points where the ref had called stroke, only for Andy to play the ball and keep the rally going, only to lose the point. That's called making life hard for yourself. The game went 6-9.

When's the next ref's course?

Rocco was on next. To be fair he was rushing from work. I went for a shower, but when I went downstairs to their dungeon court, they were already shaking hands on a 2-9, 2-9, 2-9 loss.

So, overall a 3-2 win and a return to the top of the table. What's not to like.

p.s. Neil Love says sorry he missed the match - he'd have loved the pineapple pizzas.

Mike