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Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 2 | Tom Candy | 3 | Lee Greenwood | 2 | 3 | 9/5 10/9 8/10 2/9 2/9 | | 3 | Jerry Staffurth | 6 | Ian Smith | 1 | 3 | 5/9 9/2 5/9 3/9 | | 4 | Chris Shepherd-Barron | 7 | Cath Ruffle | 3 | 0 | 9/6 9/3 9/0 | | 5 | Gary Mitchell | 9 | Geoff McMullan | 3 | 0 | 9/6 9/5 9/1 | | 6 | Mark Fleming | 10 | Rob Belcher | 3 | 0 | 9/5 9/7 9/4 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 12 | 6 | |
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| | | Bonus: | 5 | 0 | |
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| | | Result: | 17 | 6 | |
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| Report: | Easy one to predict, this. P.C. previews indicated that Beckenham would sweep all opposition away and leave Knole to prop up the mid table again.
Unluckily for Cath and new (refurbished) captain Geoff, Beckenham had to make do without three of their stars. One stag do; one not playing in the summer; one bad back. Versus Knole, one long-term injured, but nos. 2-6 all up for it.
All knew their nominated places. No funny business.
Gary, no longer the sacrificial lamb, appeared to relish his new cushy life at 4th string and did not take too long beating the reformed lemon squash man, Geoff. Geoff’s new low-alc diet has yet to kick in to its full effect and Gary was able to run around Geoff’s ‘T’ stand, keeping the ball just out of Geoff’s reach whenever possible.
Ian Smith (no longer an unknown 50-something) started slowly and casually against Jerry. His heart was clearly pining for the old days when he and ‘PJ’ would have a friendly tussle – and play a bit of squash as well. Playing a raw youngster like Jerry obviously bored him and he only occasionally showed flashes of his natural speed and touch. A hiccough in the second game allowed Jerry some hope, but too many errors and Ian’s wrong-footing style restored the balance to level the match at 1-1.
Having lost Big Beer-Swilling Geoff to the TT ranks, Beckenham have found a more than adequate replacement in Big Cider-Drinking Hairy-Growling Rob. Tip-Top-Tinner Mark might have easily thrown this one – were it not for the history. It turned out that there were old scores to settle, of academic, sporting and business varieties. As fellow Beckenham members, old school chums and having been in an Accountant/Client relationship, the ball-bashing took on a deeper significance. No longer able to beat Mark with slipper, cane or ledger, Rob was unable to defeat the determination and just-above-the-tin cuts of the grown up and fully-hedged Mark. After a few foot-stamping and growling moments, Rob headed off to the Magners to drown the pain of failing to relive the childhood dominance of prefect over fag.
Meanwhile, Cath had taken her nascent undefeated streak to the dizzy heights of 3rd string. She soon found that Knole new boy Chris had the tool to thwart her – his finely honed ‘bash it and run’ strategy. Hit it hard, run hard and after a few points pretend to do a drop shot. Cath retrieved and volleyed as well as she could, but Chris’s remorseless pace and wear-em-out game wore her down. Even the boasts from the back corner to centre front were hit so hard that they died. 3-1 to Knole and a good one against the head.
The dead rubber of the 1s provided a few surprises. Tom, who was not expected to pick up any points at all, nearly pulled off the shock of the night. Lee was showing signs of off-season rustiness and he allowed Tom to take advantage of several uncharacteristic errors early on. At 2-0 and 8-7 up, Tom had one chance to overturn the formbook. He just missed it and Lee took the next three points and coasted through the next two games against a tiring Tom.
Another record bar bill for Knole and a few useful bonus points to store up for cementing the mid-table place later on.
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| Author: | Jovial Jose |
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