|
|
 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 1 | Dave Partridge | 1 | Chris Sayer | 3 | 2 | 6/9 5/9 9/7 9/4 9/5 | | 3 | Luke Medhurst | 4 | Tom Candy | 3 | 0 | 9/0 9/1 9/2 | | 7 | Paul Barnard | 5 | Jerry Staffurth | 2 | 3 | 9/5 5/9 2/9 9/7 4/9 | | 10 | Peter Fraser | 7 | Mark Fleming | 3 | 0 | 9/2 9/1 9/7 | | 8 | Dave McLelland | 8 | Chris Morgan | 3 | 2 | 2/9 9/3 9/4 8/9 9/2 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 14 | 7 | |
|---|
| | | Bonus: | 5 | 0 | |
|---|
| | | Result: | 19 | 7 | |
|---|
| Report: | Trick or treat?
KP limped to Freds with little expectation of reaping the long-awaited revenge for last year’s ‘B’ Cup Final defeat. They were not anticipating any treats from the Sausage Men and they got none.
KP’s tin man Mark Fleming had brought along his full array. Only the sound was missing from behind the thick glass barrier. Pete Fraser (former Freds tinner?) gratefully accepted two games – ignoring the self-abuse that his opponent was ladling out and was not unhappy that the third was almost competitive. Mark was not in the mood to dally and quickly rushed off to check his Blackberry to make sure that the Far Eastern markets were behaving. As night fell, he still needed them to lose a couple of basis points to meet his month-end target. Shame about the squash.
Jerry Staffurth and Paul (Flat Eric) Barnard had a pretty tussle, that fluctuated for five elegant games. Early on, there were more dives and head wounds than the concurrent Chelsea – Barca slugfest. Only one marking crisis, which was resolved when the glass door was opened to allow a full and frank exchange of views. Jerry eventually edged the entertaining match with some tidy and persistent play.
[Editor’s note: It would be interesting to see referees in Champions League matches having to cope with a glass barrier between them and the players. To blindness, add deafness.]
Chris Morgan also had a humdinger against a ring-rusty but deceptively skilful Dave McLelland. Dave looked to be cruising at 2-1 up, but Chris dug in to take the fourth 9-8. However, Dave’s second wind was enough to beat Chris’s despairing lunges.
At 2, Freds had brought in a secret weapon – Luke Medhurst – another ‘formerly very talented’ teenager dragged back from retirement. Lofty Tom Candy was clearly way over his head in the ‘PJ’ position. In fact, ‘PJ’ did well to miss it. His timely trip to the airport to fetch his sister may well have saved him from another drubbing. Tom took his punishment well. Only one racket throw; not venomous. And he even had the balls to ask his opponent for a friendly knock afterwards. There was plenty of time left after the 30-points scored in the match (27 of them by Luke).
A very tired (and slightly jet-lagged – but no excuses) Chris Sayer played a spirited dead rubber against Dave (The Brain?) Partridge. Chris took the first two with some controlled aggression and a lot of errors from Dave. At 7-5 up in the third, Chris was coasting to an easy win. But The Brain had a cunning plan. He twisted his ankle and Chris lost his momentum. Chris became more and more tired and frustrated as Dave refused medical attention and his captain’s offer of allowing him to retire injured. After that, there only looked like being one winner – the one-pegged-Fred.
So a useful 7 points for Knole. Last week, they went up two places following a 4-1 loss. Top of the table this week? I don’t think so. Instead, another hard selection meeting looms. The winning formula continues to elude JJ and time is running out. A bigger squad or faster rotation perhaps?
No big sausages for dinner, although a few token slices were placed on top of some of the pizzas. This was small consolation for a disconsolate Knole.
|
|---|
| Author: | JJ |
|---|
| |  |  |  |
|
