The last big weekend of 09/10

Posted 15:25 07 April 2010 in Premier Weekend

We were in the hunt for promotion, 2nd in the league, joint points with Leicester, with Lanarkshire 1 point behind.

We had to play Avon, Lanarkshire and Yorkshire 2nd…..a tough weekend. With a BIG match against Lanarkshire……we were expecting that they had all their top players.

 

Left just after Friday evening, getting to Milton Keynes about …a bit of a slow trip. We then queued in the Pizza Hut takeaway for half an hour for dinner for Ben and I.

Dinner was Pizza and Wedges in the Lodge room at the NBC, MK. It was then a case of watching some telly and a reasonable earlyish night – well .

 

Saturday morning, we were against Avon….meant a big encounter against Adam my doubles partner.

Avon took both the Men’s Singles, we were hoping for at least one, but sadly lost both. Fortunately the ladies then levelled the match at 2 a piece. Both Jo and Hana winning comfortably in 2 sets.

Matt Corby and I took the court against Adam and his young talented county partner – Chris Coles. Who was fresh off a win at doubles at the Notts Challenger.

Matt and I had our game plan and stuck to it well, playing well and not making too many errors. We took the first set to 14, then weathered a fightback at the start of the second to take the second set to 16. Pleasing to carry on the winning experience from last weekend. We lost 2nd mens doubles 17 in the third and that put the tie at 3 all.

 

The ladies then took over, facing a slightly weaker Avon team (no Maz or Ali Marr), but the ladies took both matches in two sets. Giving us 5 for the tie.

Lanarkshire had brought their strongest team and were doing well against Yorkshire 2nds. Leicestershire were struggling against Worcestershire……could it be us and Scots going up. Our score was made better by taking one of the mixed…gave us a 6-4 win, ideally could have done with a point or two more. Leicestershire rallied, but lost 7-3, Lanarkshire won 7-3.

This put the league position as follows:

Hampshire - 50

Lanarkshire – 50

Leicestershire – 47.

 

After a shower and some lunch, it was in preparation for the biggest match of the season, the toughest opponents and also a big decider in the promotion chase.

Singles started, young Ben Tier was unlucky in his 3 set battle against Craig Goddard, taking the second set, then Goddard stepped up the pace and took the . A great effort from Ben though. Likewise Adam went to three sets, losing the third to 13 against Kenny Young, who seemed to have the legs on Adam in the final end.

 

1st ladies singles, went the full distance with Jo Dix unlucky to lose out 18 in the third against Gilmour the Scotland international.

Hana put the first score on the board, winning her game 15 and 15.

3-1, we were now under some pressure, Leicestershire were doing well against Herts 2nds.

 

Matt and I went on against Turnbull and Neill – Scottish National Champions. The problem with this game, was that I really wanted to play well. I knew they were arguably the best pair in the league and I had watched them and thought if Matt and I played well and they were off form a little, we could turn them over. The problem when you really want to play your best….sometimes you don’t and you play badly…..they were sharp, obviously up to speed, Matt and I had played well that morning, but hadn’t played together since Christmas County weekend…..so nothing to fall back on. So the wheels fell off, simple kills were flying out the back, snatching at so many shots…..then getting frustrated. We lost the first to 10…..I wasn’t happy. Fortunately we played better and competed well, being in touch at 12-14, then losing to 16, gutted, was really disappointed with the performance. Realising that I wanted to play so well and win, that it overwhelmed me and my performance wasn’t good. They also played well and beat us reasonably comfortably for them. Oh to play that standard regularly.

 

We lost 2nd men’s doubles in 3 sets, after 4 match points being lost in the 2nd set. 1st ladies picked up a great win in two sets, but we lost 2nd ladies and both mixed. The tie finished 8-2 to Lanarkshire, the compounding factor was that Leicestershire picked up an 8-2 win over Herts 2nds. The table looked bleak at the end of the day.

Lanarkshire – 58

Leicestershire – 55

Hampshire – 52. We needed a big win against Yorks 2nds and for Leicestershire to crash and burn against Surrey 2nds. Mathematically possible, but odds were against us.

 

There was a big night out on the Saturday, several team members getting in at (or after the clocks went back). I however was not one of them, as mentioned before, I can’t drink and play, also I was so disappointed with the men’s doubles against Lanarkshire, that I had to redeem myself in the morning against Yorkshire.

 

A cheap meal down the Carvery, and then a return to the Lodge for Chris, Steve, Ben, Kelly and myself. We thought we’d go for a drink in the NBC, but it was all locked up, so we all retired to our rooms to watch Match of the Day. Ben and I got into Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan, so watched that until it finished at half 12, then realising that effectively that was half 1 after the clocks went back! Whoops.

A decent night sleep and not disturbed by the returning alcoholics!

 

Sunday morning, was effectively a dead match for us, we were destined to finished in 3rd place. I was asked to play mixed as well as doubles.

 

We looked to be starting well, with both Ben and Adam looking good against Marshall and Allinson of Yorkshire, unfortunately both losing out in 3 sets. The girls then cleaned up again, levelling the tie at 2 a piece.

 

Matt and I played young Mark Middleton and Nitin Panesar, I asked Matt before we started “Panesar’s got a good defence hasn’t he?”, Matt’s response of likening him to Ian Pearson was a little disturbing. Particularly when I told Matt that Pearson had on occasions made me look very stupid with his awesome defence.

We then took part in a bit of a battle, we had a good win in the first set taking it 21-14 and looking to be in control. The second we were up, but they came back at the death of it and took it 21-19. Into a decider, this was a big game, with lots of long rallies, but we came through, winning 21-19…..really satisfying after the day before, also good to come through a tight match! Did wonders for the self confidence.

 

2nd men’s had picked up a 2 set win, we shared the ladies doubles, picking up a win at 1st, but sadly losing 2nd. This put the tie at 6-2 going into the mixed. I was playing with Kelly Holdway at 1, with Matt and Sarah Burgess at 2. Amazing to go from 4th choice mixed to playing at 1, but opposition didn’t complain. Yorkshire had interesting numbering of pairs. Lauren Allinson playing at 1 with Jason Marshall and Mark Middleton playing number 2 with recently retired ex full timer Sarah Bok. Kelly and I played really well, keeping the attack well, taking the 1st set to 15 and then pushing on and taking the 2nd 21-13.

Sadly Matt and Sarah lost in 2 sets to Middleton and Bok. Final score of match 7-3 win, we cemented our 3rd place finish and I was very pleased to finish the weekend with 3 wins out of 4.

A bit disappointed with the performance on the Saturday afternoon against the Scots, but very pleased that I had been allowed to play 2 mixed this season and won both.

A win in the 2nd weekend against (in my opinion) the best pair in the league (Armstrong and Brett) and then a win against Yorkshire, albeit the 2nd team.

 

Target for next season…..to pick up a few more wins (means being more up to speed before weekends) and also claim back the mixed spot and keep it with some more wins.

It was very disappointing to be relegated from Premier A, to be promoted back up would have been great, but there has been some enjoyment at winning games and being at the top end of the table as opposed to the last few seasons in Prem A where we were fighting relegation.

 

My season is now over, I finished on a high, sadly no trip to Guernsey, but a wedding to look forward to in May, a honeymoon in Thailand and then a summer of prep to make next season the best yet…..well at least better than the last two injury plagued years.