Broadberry Sports

Missed the Wednesday match reports?!?!?! 😊 Sorry, but I was away the last two weeks and missed the matches (one 3-2 win v Scotstoun & one 3-2 loss v Strathclyde Uni.). Tonight, we faced yet another tough one against Western, but it was a Whitecraigs home match, in da club. The court looked very festive with glittering remnants of tinsel and children’s party on it!

First on was our new man at No.5 Mike Martin v Sam Peacock. Mike (from Inverness! Now that’s commitment to your new club!) was playing his third match for the us, but it was the first time I’d seen him play. Mike looked ‘pained’ after every shot he hit; either ‘quizzical anguish’ when he won a point or ‘pained disaster’ if he lost one – and with the match at one game each, we saw the full range of expressions! But he needn’t have worried, as when he got the ball to a length, his win percentage was very high and as the game went on he did this more and more and took the tie 3-1 (and he looked ‘apologetically distraught’ at winning!)

Next on was the No.2s as Chris (Murphy) had a very tricky one against Steven Halliday. For me, this was the tie of the night, as Steven is an excellent player and so Chris had to be right on it……. and he was! Chris imposed his style on the match from the get-go and was able to neutralise Stephen’s fantastic backhand length with some great movement. Chris was 2-0 up, but Steven was far from finished, as he came storming back 11-8 and was 6-3 up in the 4th game as well. So, would this go the distance? Fortunately for us Chris went on a great run of points at this moment and at 10-7 up he could surely win! Hold on – a few seconds later it was 10-9….. but eventually Chris worked the opening and found the winner to take the match 3-1. Great performance!

I went on next against Martin Woods at No.4. I feared the worst as Matin has traditionally played several levels above me, but if you let me get to 10 points first, I always have a volley in me! So, an unexpected 1st game win gave me (false) hope. Normal service was resumed after that and I lost 3-1, but on reflection it was probably 1 team point gained (and I did play well, especially on the volley).

So as I headed off to the shower (bar) ‘Flash Harry’ (Anderson) took to the court against Scott Hay. When I returned Harry was 2-1 up, but there were two 12-10s in there (both to Harry) so this was obviously a really close one. In the 4th game Harry was dominant, despite trying to lose it every now and again with the odd Mizuki and reverse angle, that put him under more pressure that he’ll probably admit to! However, there was a lot of really great shots as well and he moves like the proverbial whippet! 3-1 to Harry – a key win for the team to bag the extra 3 match winning points (Scott was obviously so distraught he later left all his work clothes at the club!).

So last on was ‘Two James Singhs’ v Peter Halliday. James got a knock last night with a racket hitting the toothpicks he calls legs, so was a late confirmation for tonight – great commitment to the club however! When he took to the court, he certainly looked like he was moving well enough. James had a slow start and at one point, when he played an inexplicable volley into the tin our team manager (Bruce) said “Are you sure it wasn’t his head that was hit, not his knee!”. No one particularly wanted to mark this one, but Chris insisted that Martin do it and when Peter came ‘out of the court’ to complain about something or other, citing P.S.A. rules, I can’t believe that that Martin didn’t evoke P.S.A. Rule 15.3 for leaving the court 😊. The final result was 3-0, but all the games were close and the last game was 12-10. I’ve seen Peter play better, but James certainly moved him well and prevented him from dominating the ‘T’.

An excellent 16-6 team win and we headed to the Back Bar for bangers and mash for dinner (veggie bangers for me). The chat was as great as ever and we’re currently planning out Christmas Night out, which James is trying to duck out of and everyone else is trying to book him for a car-ride home, after James has his usual half shandy followed by ten Irn Brus! So we all headed home and 100 What’s App messages later I went to bed!