DLR Match Report 24th February 2010

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Well that was a right royal thrashing we were given tonight by the Giffnock lads.

Kev (Moran) was on first against Chris Fergusson (the newly acquired Giffnock young gun from Edinburgh) at No.2. These two have been keen rivals from an early age, but Chris has been having the better of things recently, so this was going to be a tough one for Kev. They arranged to play early so I didn’t see this one, but it seems that Chris was in control. He won the 1st game, while Kev was having trouble with slippery floor so they changed courts for the 2nd game, unfortunately that didn’t help the cause and Kev was soon 0-2 down. Owen told me later that Kev always seemed to have the court conditions in the back of his mind and against someone of Chris’s quality this distraction was never going to help. So Chris won this one 3-0.

So no team point yet.

Next on was Brian Cadenhead v Graham ‘the Mugger’ McAinsh at No.5. This was always going to be an uphill battle for Brian against a past Giffnock Champion (on about 8 occasions). The 1st game was nip and tuck all the way and if Grahame took his foot off the gas at all Brian was right in there. Unfortunately Graham found a bit more at the end of the 1st game, to go 1-0 up. The 2nd was a game of two halves alright! Graham went 7-0 up and was looking like handing out a granny, but Brian counter punched (not literally) to get it back to 7-8; but once again Graeme saw the game home at the business end. I thought If Brian can just keep it even at the start of the 3rd game he could pinch the first team point of the evening, but at 8-2 down he was really staring down the barrel. Lazarus would have done well to come back from this and it wasn’t long until the Mugger had won the match 3-0.

Still no team point!

I was on next against former No.2 Owen Hadden and in the first point of the 1st game I fell over Owen’s foot whilst trying to hit a ball that was right in front of me, unfortunately that wasn’t how Lyall saw it and I didn’t get a let. However the injury I sustained when I fell meant I couldn’t run for the rest of the match!!!!……………………….. actually that wasn’t why I didn’t run for the rest of the match; the reason was that Owen kept putting the ball too far away from me and normally it had hit the nic before I’d even taken a step, let alone broken into a slow trot. I didn’t have the best of attitudes towards the match before I went on as I told Lyall it may be up to him to get the team point, but that really didn’t have much to do with the mauling I got. I suppose I should be flattered that Owen took the game so seriously, but there was never any doubt that as to the result and the only question was whether or not he was going to granny me in the 2nd game when he was 9-0 up. Fortunately pride kicked in at this point and I salvaged a couple of points in that game. However the whole tie was over in about seven and a half minutes…………… and that included a five minute knock-up!

Still no team point!!!!

Next on was Sean Norris against Mikey Rodgerson at No.4. Another really tough one here and Sean asked me what he should do to beat Mikey. I thought to myself what advice would I give myself if I was playing Peter O’Hara and so I said “just go on and enjoy yourself!” It was actually a bit closer than that and there were times when I though the team point may be claimed especially in the 2nd and 3rd games when Sean made a great effort to get to 8-8, but Mikey was just a bit too strong and he finished the tie off 3-0.

Looking like no point!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last up was Lyall Patterson against Jamie Macaulay and I was looking forward to this one. The match in the first half of the season was so close that this promised to be a good one to watch.

I disappeared to the showers while they went on to knock-up and expected to see the battle raging at 1 point each in the 1st when I returned, so I was quite surprised to find out that Lyall was 2 games down. The 3rd game was hard fought and Jamie was playing his trade mark backhand drops with about half a millimetre to spare and Lyall was moving the ball well. The two were having a tough battle with Jamie moving very quickly to the front forehand and catching Lyall out with strokes against him a few times, but Lyall was also keeping the pressure on by moving Jamie all over the court. At 10 points up Lyall said “this one’s for the team!” and at last there was a point to the evening! Unfortunately Lyall wasn’t able to replicate this in the 4th and Jamie took control of the early part of the game. He managed to keep a few points in front and Lyall lost a couple more on a decision he felt aggrieved about. It all slipped away from Lyall at this point and Jamie ratcheted up the pressure to take the match 3-1.

So a bit of a drubbing tonight, but the highlight of the chat in the bar afterwards was from Sean. I can’t repeat exactly what he said, but if you want a clue have a look at the end of the same report here!

cheers

Jason