DLR Match Report for 17th February 2010

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Did I say 3-2, well once again I was right, but circumstances meant that it wasn’t the way I thought…………..

I was first on court against Colin Martin, who is a tricky left hander with a very unusual grip which enables him to play some quite strange shots. Unfortunately (for Colin) it also restricts him in playing others, so the plan was to keep it behind him on his forehand and wait for the loose shot. This ‘cunning plan’ worked brilliantly in the knock-up, but it was a different matter in the game as Colin was all over the court like a cheetah (the animal not a card-player!) and at 9-10 down I was more than a bit concerned. However I managed to just do enough to win this by a nose 13-11.

The 2nd game also saw us very close at 7-7, but I was beginning to get used to the drives that were travelling at Mach 3 – 1mm above the tin and I closed this game out 11-7. The 3rd game saw me tinning shot after shot and Colin taking full advantage of this as he was up 7-1. At this point I thought time to shut up shop and make no mistakes. Now this was one of my better decisions as I didn’t lose another point (a bit of a turn-around!) and took the tie 3-0.

Sean (Norris) was on court at the same time so I missed the 1st game which he won 11-8 against Kenny Hardie. The 2nd was much closer although at 5-10 down Sean had to dig-in to eventually win it 13-11. And that set the theme of the tie, which was if Sean could keep the rallies going long enough Kenny would normally make the mistake first. And so it proved as he took the final game 11-7. In the bar afterwards, when the banter was kicking off, Kenny was very quick to ask Sean how he could sleep at night with the 3-bouncer in the 1st game, but Lyall came to Sean’s defense and said that it was definitely no more than 2 bounces!!

Next up was Kev (Moran) against Andy McCully. Now Andy has had a torrid time of it this season at No.2 and in contrast Kev is currently in second position in the West stats-table for Division 1 (http://www.horizon-sport.com/yoursport/uk/squ/110439901909crdu04divrankl00073.php) so this looked like 3-0 to the home side and a match win for the night. Andy wasn’t helped by the fact that Kev confessed to playing well and at 7-0 up I though my granny may show up! But it wasn’t to be, although Kev did with this game comfortably 11-3. The next two were much closer (11-7 & 11-8) but in the end it was a comfortable win for the Harrow man 3-0.

Next up at No.5 was Brian (Cadenhead) against first Division debutant Jamie Ramage. Brian’s first mistake was telling Jamie how tired he was after a red-eye flight to London that morning! I could see Jamie’s eyes light up at this information! Despite this Brian played well and dug in at 7-7 to win the 1st game 11-8.

To say the second game was similar to the first was an understatement. The first 8 points were and exact carbon-copy of the 1st game and it was finely poised at 7-7 and the final score was 11-8. However this time it was Jamie who stuck in at the crucial time and evened the match 1-1.

Now the tide was turning towards Townend and I was wondering if Brian had much left in the tank. The 3rd was another good battle and Brian worked very hard, and once again at 7-7 it was anyone’s game and once again Jamie pushed home the advantage and kept Brian stretching to the back. The 5th saw Jamie take a good lead and a tired Brian just couldn’t get back at him, so a win for Townend and their first points on the board.

Last on was Lyall (Patterson) against Harrow’s Stuart Crawford at No.1. – I missed the 1st game as I was marking, but although Lyall was behind for most of the game he did pull back to 7-7. However just at this point Stuart stepped it up and took the game 11-7.

The second seemed to be much closed and although Lyall had to do a lot of retrieving he was still in it at 9-9. However once again this was the time that Stu found just a little bit extra to take the game 11-9. The 3rd was a strange old game and Stuart seemed to completely turn off. He was trying to win the points too quickly and this was no trouble for Lyall to step up to. The end of the game was scrappy as both players started trying to win easily, but at 10-3 up Lyall was always likely to find a winner (and he did).

Stuart re-took control in the 4th and used his forehand to devastating effect holding Lyall and moving him into very difficult positions. Lyall did his best to chase, but in the end Stu was able to stretch Lyall until he made a mistake and he ended up winning the game 11-5 and the match 3-1. A good win for Lloyds though by 3 ties to 2 (14 points to 6).

All the best

Jason