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 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 2 | Marc Aldridge | 5 | Trevor Grant | 3 | 1 | 4/9 9/2 9/7 9/5 | | 6 | Mark Lennox | 7 | Simon Grey | 3 | 0 | 9/1 9/2 10/9 | | 8 | Ray Bushell | 10a | Grant Seed | 3 | 0 | 9/4 9/3 9/7 | | 7 | John Lane | | w/o | 3 | 0 | | | 12 | Simon Wanford | | w/o | 3 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 15 | 1 | |
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| | | Bonus: | 5 | 0 | |
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| | | Result: | 20 | 1 | |
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| Report: | Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day.. dum diddly du da do dah, skiddle de diddle de dee.. The voices could be heard from the top of the Hill…
The state of play before the match…
One final hurdle to jump before any league division championships could be decided. Second placed Bexley were determined to get the full 20 points against 3rd placed Cannons, whilst Biggin Hill needed to gather up a minimum of 16 points to secure glory. Only 5 points between the sides meant there could be no slip ups on or off court, and that included nominations, early match card faxing etc etc.
On the way to the fixture, the mobile range, it was Simon from the opposition with a hint of dejection in his voice. Fitness Exchange only had 3 players thus gifting two matches to a very grateful Hill. This however still meant there was a job to do, Hill had to get at least two more wins to win the championship race.
On with the match…
Top string players Marc Aldridge (Biggin Hill) v Trevor Grant (Fitness Exchange) took to the court. I’m reliably informed this match was by no means cut and dried. By all accounts (well just one actually, in fact we didn’t have much support up at the club, it was the markers account), Trevor played a storming match in which he took the first game 9/4, and at 7-7 in the third should have won that one too. Not to be on this occasion as the enormously reliable (apart from last week against Steve London), Marc wrapped up the tie 3-1.
So even after one tie, the match stood at 3-0 and 14-1 in Hills favour. Still 2 more points to find from two matches.
The number 2’s were playing at the same time with Fitness Exchange’s competitive Simon Grey v Biggin Hill’s all round good egg, Mark (Pretty Boy) Lennox. Now we knew that Grey could be a handful, he comfortably took two games off our very own Gordon McManus in the team’s last meeting. In any case Grey’s was unlikely to lay down and give anything up. First game saw Lennox getting in his stride and leading 4-0 - when Grey got his first point, there was a little punch in the air as if to say ‘thank god I’m not going to be done 27-0!’. Unlikely to be honest as Lennox’s form has been a little wayward recently – Clive London will confirm that! The first two games went Hill’s way with the third being a slightly tougher contest - 10-9 to Lennox, and the match.
With the opening two matches won, the league championship was now firmly in the bag for the ‘Pretty Boy’ captain and his faithful followers. Or was it????????
The third strings were next up. Gordon McManus had come up to the club but still suffering from flu, had opted to let our very own resident ‘Debt Collector’ Ray Bushell take his place against Grant Seed, the usual number 5 for Fitness Exchange. This all unbeknown to Biggin Hill’s captain would surely throw the nominations out of sync. Lennox had already moved above McManus, and then with Bushell moving up too, this would mean a loss from the third string down- DISASTER!!!!!!! Lennox literally had to run to the court hauling Bushell off before the match started.
Much to the massive relief of Lennox, McManus had already agreed to stand down for the whole evening, letting 12th nominated Simon Wanford officially take the fifth string whilst John Lane took the 4th spot. Thank the almighty for this, as we all know now, this would have cost Biggin Hill the title!!!!!
So, back on court for Bushell who proceeded to command the match in an authoritative fashion. Seed worked damn hard it’s fair to say but couldn’t find enough to overpower the Hill’s trusted debt collector. 3-0 to Bushell and a beautiful 5-0 to Biggin Hill.
So with the bar calling, a bountiful feast of Bolognaise with all the trimmings was washed down with glugs of champagne. Our gracious opponents from Fitness (Simon and Grant) also enjoyed a glass and toasted to an end of the Bexley stranglehold on the Priory. It seemed the usual party animal and ‘later stayer’ Trevor Grant had to leave early, which makes a change.
Anyway, it just leaves the Pretty Boy captain from Biggin Hill to sign off with a massive thank you to the Biggin Hill team players, Biggin Hill club (Kim Cross), and of course to the League for a great season. Was that a corny enough?
Rock on for the semi final against our dear friends at Bexley, I think they might be up for this one!!!
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| Author: | Pretty Boy (Who else?) |
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