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 | Fixture Details | |  | | |
Home | Return to Division Fixtures
| Nom | Home Player | Nom | Away Player | Result | Games |
| 1-1 | Guy Olby | 1-1 | Tats Manase | 3 | 0 | 9-1, 9-2, 9-1 | | 1-6 | Alisdair Shapcott | 1-4 | Dan Crowley | 3 | 1 | 5-9, 9-3, 9-6, 9-1 | | 1-7 | Simon Joyce | 1-5 | Paul Shade | 3 | 1 | 9-10, 10-9, 9-3, 9-2 | | 1-8 | Ian Smith | 1-6 | Dan Wilcox | 3 | 0 | 9-2, 9-0, 9-6 | | 1-11 | Robin Grant | 1-7 | Joe Evans | 0 | 3 | 4-9, 1-9, 4-9 | | | | | | | | | | | Games: | 12 | 5 | |
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| | | Bonus: | 5 | 0 | |
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| | | Result: | 17 | 5 | |
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| Report: | A humid evening at Beckenham but a reasonably early night nonetheless. First on Guy and Tats, the expected one-sided encounter ensued though full credit to Tats who took advantage of the warm court to make Guy work hard for the scoreline.
Robin and Joe went on the other court and I didn't see much due to marking but Robin wasn't too pleased with his performance but Joe clearly took full advantage to play out a relatively easy win.
Meanwhile Ian and Dan had gone on and despite some early close exchanges, Ian managed to get through the first with some stereotypically awkward play and Dan couldn't seem to find a rhythm. This continued into the second and another quick finish was on the cards. Ian got himself in front early in the third and a spirited comeback from Dan could only delay the inevitable. 2-1 Beckenham and an all too rare win was suddenly on the cards.
All down to one of Alisdair and Si to sneak Beckenham over the line and with Alisdair playing up at 2 and Si still unfit/injury-prone/unreliable-at-best (take your pick) the match was still in the balance.
On first was Alisdair, I only caught the first and it was a slow start with Dan showing the superior court craft to put away Alisdair's untypically loose shots. Alisdair worked his way back into it though and some tighter play and good shot making saw him through to seal it.
Si and Paul played out what turned into the dead rubber but that wasn't known until the end of the second. Despite playing Shaun Lock's doppelganger, it was Si who produced most of the comedy for the first two games, not least turning down a stroke at game ball in the first and opting to put the ball in the tin instead. Standard.
Paul sneaked the first in a game that went one way then the other, Si's error count proving too high in the end. Paul blitzed away in the second and it was looking ominous for your author. At 7-2 up though, Paul seemed to switch off for a couple of minutes and Si started hitting the target, suddenly 8-7 to Si. Both had chances to win it but eventually Si took the game. From then on Si's error count reduced dramatically as Paul couldn't force the pace as much. Ultimately the third and fourth were relatively comfortable meaning a good, and much needed, win for the home side.
A pleasantly surprising bit of fish and chips rounded off an enjoyable evening. |
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| Author: | Si |
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